IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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1.0 


I.I 


IIIM  IM 

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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


73  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY    14580 

(716)  872-4503 


% 


L-P- 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 

1980 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6x6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu^s  ci-dessous. 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


□    Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


D 


□ 


D 


Couverture  endommagde 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur^e  et/ou  pellicul6e 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


D 

□ 


Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  g^ographiques  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  (h.in  blue  or  black)/ 
ere  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  ilUistrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  <.>err6e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intdrieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
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II  se  peut  que  certa<nes  pages  blanches  ajoutdes 
tors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  filmdes. 


D 
D 

n 

D 
D 
D 
D 

n 


Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag^es 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurdes  et/ou  pelliculdes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  d6color6es,  tachet^es  ou  piqudes 

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Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
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Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
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obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


D 


Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentaires: 


10X 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film^  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqud  ci-dessous. 


14X 


18X 

\7\ 


22X 


26X 


lOX 


12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


2U( 


O 

32X 


s 

I 
fier 

le 

ge 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Harold  Campbell  Vaughan  Memorial  Library 
Acadia  University 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
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filming  contract  specifications 


L'exemplaire  filmi  fut  reproduit  grflce  A  la 
g6n6rosit6  de: 

Harold  Campbell  Vaughan  Memorial  Library 
Acadia  Univeriity 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetd  de  l'exemplaire  filmd,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimde  sont  film6s  en  commen^ant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  film6s  en  commenpant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  th.i  symbol  —^-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED "I,  or  the  symbol  V  (meaning   "END  "), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — »>  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
film6s  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clich6,  il  est  filmd  d  partir 
de  Tangle  sup^rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'ifTiages  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  lq  m^thode. 


ata 


9lure, 


3 


S2X 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


OR 


THE  HISTORIC  PRINCIPLE  APPLIED 
TO  THE  MOSAIC  SCRIPTURES 


BY 


EDWARD    CRIDGE,  D.D. 


Dedicated   to   Bible   Students 

"  In  the  beginning  was  the  IVord." 


6 


±1 


0 


Fleming   H.   Revell    Company 

Chicago  New  York  Toronto 

Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature 


I 


COPYRIGHT,   1900,  BY 
FLEMING    H.    REVELL   COMPANY 


-iib  UI5 


•0  7 


CONTENTS 


PAGB 

7 


The  Education  or  Jesus 

"Who  Art  Thou  T  '        .                0 

Education  in  the  Garden lo 

The  Angel  of  God i8 

His  Name 21 

The  Name  Kept  Secret 26 

Satan's  Fraudulent  Device 28 

From  Death  Unto  Life 41 

Settlement  of  the  Savior's  Genealogy           .        .        .  48 

Evangelical  Worship  Instituted         ....  53 

The  Church  and  The  World           ....  54 

The  Flood 57 

Type  of  the  Judgment  to  Come 61 

Partition  of  the  Earth 64 

Defection  of  the  Hamites  and  Building  of  the  Towkr 

of  Bauel 67 

Origin  of  Kingly  Government      .        .                .        .  74 

The  Divine  Will  that  Nations  Should  be  Free          .  77 
Distinction    Between   the   Antediluvian    World    and 

the  Nations  in  the  Last  Day 79 

The  Gospel  Preached  to  Abraham                      .        .  81 

Authority  of  the  Book  of  Moses 87 

Rule  of  Historic  Criticism 89 

Whence  Moses  Acquired  his  Information  of  the  Past  gi 

Joshua  as  a  Writer  and  Leader  after  Moses      .        .  103 

The  Uncorrupt  Descent  of  the  Writings  of  Moses  104 

Conclusion 117 

Notes lao 


/42.^3 


I 


The  subject  of  the  following  pages,  as  of  all  Bible 
teaching,  is  "the  testimony  of  Jesus";  and  their 
object,  to  draw  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  Bible 
the  truth  that  by  him,  Jesus,  were  all  things  created; 
and  not  only  so,  but  also  that  by  and  through  him, 
as  his  Angel  or  Messenger,  God  ruled  in  the  affairs 
of  men  in  their  divers  dispensations. 

How  far  the  principle  on  which  we  proceed  is 
justly  applied  is  for  the  reader  to  judge.  For  the 
brevity  due  to  our  limited  space  we  must  ask  his 
kind  indulgence  if  not  his  closer  attention. 


I 


As     It    Was     In     The     Beginning 


THE   EDUCATION   OF   JESUS. 

On  a  certain  occasion,  when  Jesus  was  on  earth 
among  men,  speaking  as  man  never  spoke,  the 
Jews,  wondering,  said  one  to  another,  "How  know- 
eth  this  man  letters,  having  never  learned?"  Not 
that  they  meant  that  he  could  not  read  or  write,  but 
that,  in  the  scholastic  sense,  he  was  what  we  call 
uneducated;  illiterate;  spoke  with  the  Galilean 
accent,  a  part  of  the  country  where  the  people  sat 
in  darkness,  and  where,  among  the  common  sort, 
what  is  called  scholarship  was  unknown.  For  no 
other  reason,  the  council,  later  on,  judged  Peter  and 
John  "  to  be  ignorant  and  unlearned  men. "  They 
could  have  "perceived"  it  in  no  other  way  than  by 
their  speech  and  dress.  They  knew  nothing  fur- 
ther of  them  than  this:  "They  took  knowledge  of 
them  that  they  had  been  with  Jesus."  They  were 
all  Galileans  together.  Their  "speech  betrayed 
them."  For  the  same  reason,  no  doubt,  did  the  pol- 
ished inhabitants  of  the  city  conclude  that  Jesus  was 
unlettered,  or  illiterate,  devoid  of  the  advantages  of 
a  polite  education,  had  not  been  to  college,  or,  like 
his  apostle  afterwards,  been  brought  up  at  the  feet 
of  some  learned  Gamaliel.  Doubtless  it  was  this, 
no  less  than  his  youth,  that  so  astonished  the  learned 
doctors  in  the  temple.     This  Galilean  boy,  speaking 

; 


8 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


with  a  strong  provincial  accent,  betraying  his  desti- 
tution of  much  that  they  were  accustomed  to  regard 
as  scriptural  learning  or  rabbinical  lore,  could,  never- 
theless, 'uiswer  their  questions;  turn  to  Isaiah  and 
the  propliets,  and,  in  all  probability,  though  unob- 
trusively— for  he  had  not  yet  begun  his  ministry — 
taught  them  more  than  ever  they  knew  before. 

For,  let  us  remember,  Jesus  was  ever  conformed 
to  his  surroundings.  Looking  at  his  whole  course 
and  conduct,  we  cannot  conceive  that  ho  differed 
from  his  countrymen  in  dress,  manners,  appearance, 
or  language,  except  so  far  as  these  might  be 
affected,  as  in  men  good  and  true  they  generally  are 
affected,  by  native  courtesy  and  humility  of  mind. 
Still  less  can  we  imagine  that  he  was  graced  with 
surpassing  beauty  of  form,  or  appeared  with  a  halo 
of  glory  around  his  head.  vSuch  ideas  are  little  con- 
sonant with  the  prophecies  which  went  before  on 
him,  or  with  the  mission  on  which  he  was  sent  into 
the  world,  implying,  as  they  would  do,  a  bar  to  that 
intimate  and  affectionate  intercourse  with  his  fel- 
lows which  ever  marked  his  conduct,  and  procured 
for  him  among  the  well-disposed  such  a  ready  accep- 
tance of  his  instructions.  Had  he  appeared  in  a 
god-like  form,  or  with  preternatural  signs  of  divin- 
ity, would  the  proud  Pharisee  have  treated  him  with 
such  disdain,  and  refused  him  the  common  courte- 
sies of  life?  Here  was  a  poor  man,  in  mean  attire, 
worn  and  dusty  with  travel,  in  no  wise  differing  in 
language  or  appearance  from  the  crowd  of  Galileans 
whom  the  learned  Pharisee  looked  down  upon  as 
the  dust  beneath  his  feet;  a  man  who,  according  to 
prophecy,  was  raised  up  out  of  the  people ;  in  short 
a  man  in  whom  there  was  no  beauty  that  any  should 


I 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning  9 

desire  him ;  was  it  worth  while,  the  Pharisee  would 
tliink,  to  treat  him  with  a  ceremony  due  only  to 
ecjuals?  He  had  invited  him  to  his  table,  indeed, 
as  a  noted  individual,  with  whose  doings  every 
tongue  was  busy;  a  sort  of  lion  that  he  might 
exhibit  to  his  friends — but  he  did  not  fail  to  mark, 
as  such  people  well  know  how  to  mark,  the  social 
gulf  which  lay  between  them.  It  was  not  gram- 
mar, or  scholarship,  or  conventional  politeness,  that 
taught  Jesus  with  such  tenderness,  and  at  the  same 
time  with  such  consummate  wisdom,  so  to  point  out 
to  his  ungracious  host  his  fault  as  must  surely  have 
made  him  ashamed  of  his  unjust  partiality. 


*'WHO   ART   THOU?" 

The  sole  ground  of  the  Jews'  contention  against 
Jesus  was  his  claim  to  be  a  teacher  sent  from  God. 
The  dictates  of  their  own  wayward  and  wilful  minds 
were  the  only  incentive  of  their  disputations.  "Ye 
WILL  not  come  unto  me  that  ye  may  have  life."  As 
their  contention  grew  more  bitter,  he  spake  more 
plainly.  It  would  seem  as  if  they  had  made  his 
provincial  accent  and  diction  an  excuse  for  not 
imderstanding  him.  "Why  do  ye  not  understand 
my  speech?  Even  because  ye  cannot  hear  my 
words."  Then  when  they  asked  him,  "Who  art 
thou?"  he  answered,  "Even  the  same  that  am  speak- 
ing unto  I  ju  from  the  beginning."  The  passage  is 
difficult  to  translate.  There  is  a  tone  of  mystery 
in  it  which  accords  well  with  his  frequent  reserve 
when  speaking  of  his  mission;  and  with  the  angel's 
words  when  speaking  of  him  to  Mary — "that  holy 
THING  which  shall  be  bom  of  thee" — and  with  the 


10 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


attribute  ascribed  to  him  by  the  apostle,  "the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever."  "I  am  that  who 
am  also  speaking  to  you  from  the  beginning."  And 
what  time  he  means  by  this  beginning  is  implied  in 
his  following  words  crncerning  the  devil,  v;ho,  he 
said,  was  a  murderei  from  the  beginning.  That 
he  would  impress  them  with  a  sense  of  his  divinity, 
without  making  a  direct  statement  concerning  't, 
may  also  be  gathered  from  his  words,  "When  ye 
have  lifted  up  the  Son  of  man,  then  shall  ye  know 
that  I  AM,"  and,  "If  ye  believe  not  that  I  am,  ye 
will  die  in  your  sins,"  language  in  striking  agree- 
ment with  that  in  which  he  had  revealed  himself  to 
Moses.  "I  AM  hath  sent  me  unto  you."  That  it 
should  have  been  rendered  obscure  in  our  versions 
by  the  insertion  of  a  superfluous  word  seems  matter 
of  regret. 


I 


EDUCATION   IN    THE   GARDEN. 

Our  Lord's  reference  to  the  "beginning"  leads  us 
to  consider  the  first  chapter  of  human  history, 
wherein  the  work  of  the  devil,  of  whom  the  Lord 
spoke  as  a  liar  and  a  murderer  from  the  beginning, 
is  found  written.  In  taking  this  line  we  have  no 
intention  of  entering  on  a  formal  exposition  or 
history,  but  rather  of  showing,  first,  the  harmony  of 
the  narrative  with  the  words  of  Jesus,  implying 
that  from  the  beginning  he  had  pursued  the  task 
for  which  he  had  eventually  come  into  the  world, 
the  task,  namely,  of  bringing  the  devil's  work  to 
nought ;  secondly,  its  harmony  with  the  scriptures 
generally;  thirdly,  the  consistency  of  the  narrative 
with  itself,  and  with  all  its  related  circumstances. 


i 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


It 


i 


Not  in  any  formal  order  do  we  seek  to  elicit  these 
harmonies,  but  only  as  our  references  require; 
believing  that  the  principle  on  which  we  proceed, 
and  which  we  shall  state  more  fully  later  on,  will 
commend  itself  to  every  fair  and  candid  mind. 

The  hope,  so  familiar  to  every  reader  of  the  Bible, 
as  entertained  by  mothers  in  Israel,  the  hope, 
namely,  of  bearing  or  becoming  the  ancestress  of 
the  child  who  should  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil, 
was  first  cherished  in  the  breast  oi  the  woman  who 
had  fallen  prey  to  his  wiles.  Grief  and  resentment 
were  in  her  mind  when  she  bewailed  her  fall  in 
words  now  unhappily  so  familiar  in  human  experi- 
ence. "The  serpent  beguiled  me,  and  I  did  eat. " 
This  was  both  a  virtual  confession  of  h^r  faulty  andL 


a  natural  expression  of  that  indignation  which  every 
one  who  has  l^een  deceived  feels  towards  his 
betrayer.  51ie~had~non)een  human  had  she  not 
desired  retribution  on  the  corrupter  of  her  inno- 
cence. She  saw  her  sinful  credulity  to  her  sorrow 
and  shame,  but,  like  every  sincere  penitent,  she 
was  not  left  without  hope.  Before  a  word  of  reproof 
was  uttered  by  her  Judge,  he  spake  as  a  Savior,  and 
she  knew  and  believed,  however  imperfectly  she 
may  have  understood,  the  sentence  that  her  seed — 
a  child  born  of  her — should  avenge  her  wrong,  and 
bruise  the  serpent's  head.  So  when  Cain  was  born 
her  grief  was  changed  into  exultation,  and  she  said, 
"I  have  gotten  a  man,  Jehovah."  As  if  she  would 
say,  Rejoice  not  against  me,  O  my  enemy:  though 
I  have  fallen,  I  shall  arise,  I  am  winner  now. 
Her  faith  was  not  a  delusion,  though  the  way  of 
deliverance  was  as  yet  a  mystery.  More  was  under- 
stood, though  xiot  all,  when,  in  the  fulness  of  time, 


12 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


another  woman  bore  a  son,  and  called  him  by  this 
name,  Jesns — Jehovah  Savior,  and  said,  "My  soul 
doth  magnify  the  Lord,  and  my  spirit  hath  rejoiced 
in  God  my  Savior." 

Though  sorrowful  Eye  was  vet  to  learn  by  bitter 
ITTaT 


experience  tnat  ncr  hope  was  deferred,  it  was  not 
extinguished.  It  did  not  perish  with  that  elder  son, 
or  his  elect  and  murdered  brother.  For  when,  after 
this  terrible  disappointment,  she  bare  another  son 
and  called  his  name  Seth,  she  exclaimed  in  the  con- 
fidence of  faith,  "God  hath  appointed  me  another 
seed  instead  of  Abel  whom  Cain  slew."  It  is  plain 
that  at  some  time,  during  Cain's  lifetime,  she  had 
seen  cause  to  transfer  her  hope  from  Cain  to  Abel. 
The  younger  son  had  become  heir  to  the  promise, 
or  she  would  not  have  spoken  of  Seth  as  coming 
into  his  room.  The  real  cause  of  Cain's  wrath 
against  his  brother  here  becomes  apparent.  It  was 
not  mortified  pride,  but  a  substantial  loss,  that 
enraged  him.  The  rejection  of  his  own  offering, 
and  the  acceptance  of  his  brother's  sacrifice,  were 
proof  conclusive — unless  he  repented — of  his  own 
disinheritance.  The  sentence  was  from  the  Lord 
himself.  As  he  did  not  repent,  though  given  a 
merciful  opportunity,  Abel  would  become  the  inher- 
itor of  the  promise  and  of  the  good  appertaining 
thereto.  This  good  was  not,  in  Cain's  estimation, 
religious  privilege,  or  spiritual  blessedness,  but 
wealth  and  power  in  the  earth,  which,  through  the 
ages,  ever  went  with  the  birthright.  Infuriated 
with  the  loss  of  a  rich  inheritance,  and  inflamed 
with  envy  at  his  brother's  good  fortune,  he  first 
quarrelled  with  him,  and  then  slew  him.  His  men- 
tal condition  was  in  full  accord  with  all  that  we 


_i 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


13 


know  of  human  nature  when  left  to  itself.  Impelled 
by  the  self-same  passions,  Esau  would  have  killed 
his  brother,  Jacob,  who  had  obtained  the  birthright 
over  his  head,  and  along  with  it,  besides  the  mys- 
terious blessing,  the  promise  of  temporal  power  and 
ascendency.  Cain's  deed  is  at  the  head  of  a  long 
series  of  crimes  of  equal  or  greater  flagrance  com- 
mitted by  men  for  the  sake  of  an  earthly  inheritance. 
Returning  to  Eve,  we  can  hardly  read  her  history 
with  attention  without  feeling  that  there  is  scarcely 
a  greater  example  of  faith  on  record  than  that  of 
the  first  woman.  There  is  no  severer  test  of  trust 
in  God  than  disappointed  hope.  When,  to  a  believer, 
looking  for  peace,  there  comes  trouble,  r[  the  sorest 
kind — inconsistent,  as  it  seems,  with  the  divine 
promise  and  the  divine  tenderness, — this  is  a  disap- 
pointment hard  to  be  borne;  and  on  account  of  this 
many  turn  back,  and  become  a  spectacle  to  those 
who  deride  such  hopes.  No  greater  shock  of  faith 
can  be  imagined  than  that  which  befell  Eve.  She 
had  heard  the  declaration  that  a  child  born  of  her 
should  avenge  her  wrong,  and  that  an  eternal  hatred 
should  subsist  between  her  and  her  betrayer.  What 
sorrowful  forebodings  then  must  have  oppressed 
her  mind  as  she  saw  the  son  of  her  hope  developing 
in  his  character,  as  he  grew  up,  the  seeds  of  ungod- 
liness; what  horror,  what  despair,  what  indigna- 
tion, must  have  torn  her  breast  when  Abel's  corpse 
was  brought  home,  and  at  the  same  moment  she 
learned  that  Cain  was  sent  forth  a  fugitive  and  -^ 
vagabond  on  the  earth.  She  might  well  say,  "Aiy 
strength,  and  my  hope  have  perished  from  the 
Lord. "  Cain,  her  joy,  Abel,  her  solace;  both  gone. 
Instec  Z"  of  victory,  defeat;  instead  of  gladness,  gar- 


14 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


ments  rolled  in  blood — surely  no  mind  without 
grace  could  have  borne  the  ordeal,  or  continued  to 
call  upon  God  after  this.  Her  holding  fast  her 
confidence  in  such  a  dire  extremity,  seems  to  equal 
her  with  Job,  who  said,  "Though  he  slay  me,  yet 
wi^J  I  trust  him."  So  unfaltering  and  firm  v  as  her 
assurance,  that,  when  Seth  was  born,  she  did  not  ask 
herself  what  was  the  use  of  hoping  any  more ;  this 
one  will  be  as  the  others;  but  taking  the  child  to 
her  heart  as  the  assurance  of  her  hope  and  faith  in 
God  she  awaited  the  fulfilment  of  his  word.  Whence 
her  confidence  arose  we  shall  consider  later  on. 

The  bitter  sorrows  of  the  mother  of  our  race 
attract  the  mind  to  the  minutest  part  of  her  history, 
juot  as  each  circumstance  concerning  the  childhood 
of  a  noted  personage  is  ever  read  with  interest. 
The  narrative,  though  brief,  is  not  scant,  and  is 
couched  in  terms  of  such  simplicity  and  plainness  as 
afford  a  ready  and  attractive  field  of  inference ;  and 
though  our  deductions  have  not  the  force  of  author- 
ity, yet,  if  they  be  in  accordance  with  life  and 
nature,  they  may  help  us  in  judging  the  writer's 
meaning.  The  mind  ever  does  this  in  histories 
where  much  is  left  to  the  reader's  reflection,  and 
the  more  the  harmony  between  them  and  their 
unexpressed  relations  appears,  the  more  is  the  mind 
persuaded  of  the  truth  of  the  story.  With  this 
view  we  may  go  a  little  back  from  Eve's  sorrowful 
experience,  and  consider  awhile  the  antecedents  of 
the  first  man  and  the  first  woman. 

We  know  not  how  long  Adam  lived  before  a 
help  meet  for  him  in  the  person  of  the  first  woman 
was  brought  to  him.  We  can,  however,  easily 
discern  three  periods  in  his  history. 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


15 


First,  his  infancy.  As  God  is  never  represented 
as  doing  miraculously  for  man  what  man  can  do 
naturally  for  himself,  it  is  inconceivable  that  he  was 
formed  at  once  in  the  full  maturity  of  manhood, 
whether  of  body  or  mind.  Ignorant  of  the  laws  of 
nature,  how  could  he,  left  to  himself,  escape 
destruction  by  precipice  or  flood,  or  other  dangers 
of  his  surroundings?  But  if  we  conceive  him 
formed  as  an  infant  child,  the  means  of  his  nurture 
and  education — in  full  harmony  with  a  period  in 
which  the  Creator  of  all  things  was  personally  pres- 
ent— are  not  far  to  seek.  If  angels  came  and  minis- 
tered to  the  second  man  in  the  wilderness,  it  is 
surely  not  too  much  to  believe  that  angels  minis- 
tered to  the  first  man  in  his  infancy.  This  is  no 
wild  speculation,  but  is  in  full  harmony  with  the 
scriptures.  In  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  we  read 
the  apostle's  judgment  as  to  the  service  on  which 
the  angels  are  employed.  They  are  "all  minister- 
ing spirits,  sent  forth  to  do  service  for  their  sake 
who  shall  become  heirs  of  salvation"  (R.  V.).  He 
intimates  also  that  angels  were  employed  in  the 
ministration  of  the  law.  Also,  when  Jacob  v.'as 
returning  to  his  home,  the  angels  of  God  met  him. 
Besides  which,  as  the  second  Adam  came  into  the 
world  a  helpless  babe,  it  seems  but  just  to  conclude 
that  the  first  Adam,  who  was  his  type,  came  in  like 
manner ;  and  whence  should  the  service  needed  in 
such  a  state  come  to  him  but  as  it  came  to  Jesus, 
namely,  through  the  ministry  of  angels.  Surely  no 
other  interpretation  is  in  such  accord  with  the 
scriptures,  and  with  nature  itself. 

The  second  period  is  that  in  which,  having  come 
to  maturity,  the  work  of  an  industrious  life  was 


i6 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


given  him  to  do.  Having  spent  a  happy  and 
instructive  childhood  in  a  garden  where  all  the 
beauties  of  nature  were  displayed  in  charming 
diversity,  the  charge  of  the  garden  itself  was  put 
into  his  hands.  The  transition  from  one  period  to 
the  other  is  marked  by  a  new  and  expressive  term, 
which,  however,  does  not  appear  in  our  versions. 
'*The  Lord  took  the  man  whom  he  had  formed,  and 
*rested'  or  SETTLED  him  in  the  garden  to  dress  it  and 
to  keep  it."  The  free  and  roaming,  but  surely  not 
unguided  or  unprotected,  life  which  befitted  the 
period  of  childhood  and  youth,  gave  place  to  the 
restfulness  (not  idleness)  of  a  settled  employment. 
As  a  youth  approaches  maturity,  he  naturally  thinks 
of  what  his  proper  business  in  life  is  to  be ;  and  his 
speculations  are  set  at  rest  when  at  length  he  finds 
it  clearly  marked  out  for  him.  The  man  had  not 
been  human  had  he  not  thus  looked  to  the  future,  or 
had  he  been  indifferent  to  this  promotion ;  and  the 
repetition  of  the  fact  that  he  was  put  into  the  garden 
had  been  a  mere  tautology,  unworthy  of  the  writer, 
were  it  not  to  indicate  a  change  in  his  condition. 

The  third  period  is  that  in  which  more  important 
matters  awaited  him  in  the  dignity  of  the  married 
state,  and  the  cares  of  family  government.  Not 
until  he  proved  himself  worthy  of  it,  was  he  pro- 
moted to  this  condition.  He  had  so  diligently 
observed  and  studied  the  nature  and  habits  of  the 
animal  creation,  that,  when  at  length  brought  to 
the  test,  he  was  able  to  give  appropriate  names  to 
each  kind.  ''Whatsoever  the  man  called  every 
living  creature  that  was  the  name  (or  nature) 
thereof";  for,  in  the  beginning,  names  were  sig- 
nificant, and  not  arbitrary  and  unmeaning  as  now. 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


17 


)py   and 
all   the 
liarming 
was  put 
DCiiod  to 
c'e  term, 
versions, 
lied,  and 
5SS  it  and 
Lirely  not 
itted  the 
:e  to  the 
iloyment. 
lly  thinks 
: ;  and  his 
1  he  finds 
1  had  not 
future,  or 
and  the 
e  garden 
.e  writer, 
ition. 
mportant 
married 
nt.     Not 
J  he  pro- 
|diligently 
its  of  the 
ought  to 
names  to 
ed   every 
nature) 
kvere  sig- 
Ig  as  now. 


We  may  be  sure  from  his  diligence  in  one  branch  of 
nature  that  he  had  not  been  unobservant  of  others, 
and  that  he  had  studied  plants,  and  flowers,  and 
pondered  on  the  heavenly  bodies,  with  equal  assidu- 
ity. His  reward  was  come  indeed  when  his  bride 
was  brought  to  him,  and  when,  having  given  names 
to  the  animals  he  must  give  her  a  name  also.  How 
gladly  he  acquitted  himself  of  this  final  part  of  his 
examination,  appears  in  the  exclamation,  "This, 
now,  is  bone  of  my  bone  and  flesh  of  my  flesh ;  this 
shall  be  called  woman,  because  out  of  man  was 
this  one  taken,"  and  not,  as  is  particularly  noted 
above,  out  of  the  earth,  like  the  beasts,  and  even 
man  himself. 

We  may  perhaps  hesitate  to  apply  the  same  line 
of  thought  to  the  earlier  days  of  the  woman;  build- 
ing, the  term  used  of  her  formation,  T.oing  sugges- 
tive of  a  more  speedy  process  than  growth.  It  is, 
however,  more  pleasant,  and,  perhaps,  after  all, 
more  according  to  the  nature  of  the  case,  to  think 
of  her  as  we  have  thought  of  the  man ;  and  that  a 
long  and  happy  childhood  and  girlhood,  under  the 
ministration  of  angels,  was  hers  before  she  was 
brought  in  womanly  bt  '•  and  maturity  to  her 
husband's  side.  Nothing  is  more  frequent  in 
scripture  tha.  che  long  spaces  of  time  that  must  be 
understood  between  one  step  and  another  of  the 
divine  procedure.  There  would  be  something  inex- 
pressibly mournful  in  the  thought  that  her  woman's 
happy  existence  was  nipped  in  the  bud  in  its  very 
beginning.  And,  indeed,  a  previous  training  and 
experience  seem  necessarily  implied  in  her  conver- 
sation with  the  tempter,  who  came  all  too  soon  to 
corrupt  her  innocence  and   ruin   her    peace.     She 


i8 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


knew  all  about  the  garden  and  its  contents,  and  t!ie 
conditions  of  its  enjoyment;  and  the  desire  she  felt 
to  increase  in  wisdom  can  hardly  be  conceived  as 
possessing  an  attraction  to  a  mind  devoid  of  learn- 
ing and  instruction.  We  cannot  doubt  that  she  had 
the  benefit  of  education  before  she  was  permitted 
to  take  upon  her  the  cares  and  duties  of  wifehood. 
But  more  of  this  later  on. 


THE    ANGEL   OF   GOD. 

The  scenes  in  the  garden  of  which  this  one  frail 
creature,  the  woman,  is  the  chief  center  of  interest, 
are  the  beginning  of  human  history.  The  first 
chapter,  stating  the  creation  of  man  in  his  spiritual 
part,  including,  in  common  with  the  other  creatures, 
provision  for  the  sustenance  of  his  earthly  part,  is 
not  history,  but  information  and  direction.  There 
was  no  need,  in  beginning  the  actual  history,  to 
restate  the  fact  of  his  creation,  whether  of  body  or 
spirit.  Nor  is  it  done.  The  words,  "The  Lord 
God  formed  the  man  dust  of  the  ground,"  are  not 
a  restatement  of  his  creation,  but  an  allusion  to  it. 
The  omission,  in  both  our  versions,  of  the  article 
used  throughout  the  narrative  till  after  the  expul- 
sion, confuses  its  native  perspicuity.  The  v/ords 
clearly  refer  to  the  man  as  already  existent,  and,  by 
a  new  and  expressive  term,  suitable  only  to  his 
earthly  part,  state  how,  or  of  what  matter,  he  was 
made  so  far  as  that  part  was  concerned.  The  reason 
of  this  statement  becomes  plain  as  the  history  pro- 
ceeds. For  the  same  thing  is  said  of  the  beasts. 
The)'-,  too,  were  made  out  of  the  ground.  The 
reason  for  these  two  statements  concerning  the  man 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


19 


:  frail 

s 

erest, 

fl 

;   first 

M 

ritual 

3 

tures, 

art,  is 

There 

ry,  to 

)dy  or 

i 

Lord 

re  not 

.  to  it. 

- 

irtiele 

ixpul- 

v;ords 

id,  by 

* 

to  his 

^\ 

e  was 
eason 

'■'(■ 

1 

1 

y  pro- 

)easts. 

% 

The 
e  man 

1 

and  concerning  the  beasts  now  appears.  In  the  first 
chapter  it  was  said  that  God  made  man,  male  and 
FEMALE.  There  was  no  need  then  to  restate  the  fact 
that  the  woman  was  created.  But  there  was  need 
to  allude  to  it,  to  show,  as  we  have  already  observed, 
that  she  was  made,  not  as  the  beasts  and  the  man 
himself,  out  of  the  ground,  but  was  taken  out  of 
man's  side. 

With  the  reader's  permission,  we  will  now  con- 
sider him  who  under  the  name  of  the  Lord  God, 
Jehovah  Aleim,  befriended  the  woman  in  the 
downfall  to  which  her  frailty  had  brought  her.  We 
observe,  first,  that  he  was  the  same  who,  in  the  first 
chapter,  made  all  things  in  heaven  and  earth;  and, 
secondly,  that  he  spake  in  the  garden  as  the  Angel 
or  Messenger  of  God,  as  he  ever  spoke  on  earth, 
both  before  and  after  his  coming  in  the  flesh. 

It  is  a  truth  held  by  most  students  of  scripture 
that  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  made  by  the 
Son  of  God,  although,  perhaps,  not  so  many  have 
inquired  into  the  grounds  on  which  the  belief  is 
entertained.  For  it  is  an  article  of  the  common 
faith  to  believe  in  God  the  Father,  as  the  Maker  of 
all  things.  But  this  apparent  discrepancy  vanishes 
when  we  are  also  taught  that  the  Father  made  all 
things  BY  THE  Son;  and  it  is  ever  held  correct  to  say 
that  what  a  person  does  by  another  he  does  himself. 
Christ's  part  in  the  creation  is  well  expressed  in  an 
ancient  formula — "By  whom  all  things  were  made. " 

To  make  this  plain :  In  the  first  chapter  we  read, 
"God  said,  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light." 
Here  we  see  one  commanding,  and,  by  implication, 
another  fulfilling  the  command.  And  still  more 
plainly,  "God  said,  Let  there  be  a  firmament,  and 


f* 


20 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


God  made  the  firmament."  Unless  we  imagine  the 
writer  childishly  representing  God  as  speaking  to 
himself,  we  must  understand  the  history  to  mean 
that  two  persons  were  engaged  in  the  work  of 
creation,  one  commanding,  the  other  executing  the 
command.  This  is  the  interpretation  of  St.  John  in 
his  Gospel.  He  declares  that  it  was  the  Son  of  God 
who,  as  God,  was  with  God  in  this  work.  By  a 
remarkable  expression  he  draws  attention  to  the 
fact  that,  after  the  various  objects  of  creation, — the 
light,  the  firmament,  sea,  plants,  lights,  fishes, 
beasts, — had  been  made  by  command,  when  it 
comes  to  man,  command  is  changed  into  counsel. 
"Let  TTs  make  man"  ;  the  significance  of  this  change 
is  thub  commented  on  by  the  evangelist.  After 
saying,  "All  things  were  made  by  him,"  that  is, 
Christ,  he  adds,  in  evident  reference  to  man  as  an 
exception,  "Without  him  [Christ]  was  not  any- 
thing made  that  was  made."  Though  he  made  not 
man  by  himself,  as  he  had  made  the  other  creatures, 
he  was  not  therefore  excluded.  "Without  him" 
even  man  was  not  made.  He  was  taken  into  coun- 
sel. We  may  see  also  why  in  his  deputed  work  he 
is  also  called  the  Word,  for  a  word  of  command 
with  perfect  beings  of  necessity  includes  perform- 
ance. The  unit)^  of  the  Father  and  the  Son  in 
nature,  will,  and  power,  allows  no  breach  between 
the  word  and  the  deed.  "He  spake  and  it  was 
done;  he  commanded  and  it  stood  fast." 

In  the  summing  up  of  the  work  of  creation,  we 
find  a  word  of  singular  significance,  which  both 
implies  the  subjection  of  the  Son  to  the  Father, 
and,  used  in  this  connection,  marks  him  as  the 
Angel  of  God,  sent  forth  to  do  his  will.     "On  the 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


21 


seventh  clay,  God  ended  all  his  work  which  he  had 
done;"  not,  I  think,  the  work  which  he  had  "made," 
as  in  our  versions,  which  is  hardly  an  English 
idiom,  but  the  service  which  he  had  performed,  the 
TASK  which  he  had  fulfdled,  as  God's  Angel  or  Serv- 
ant. It  is  the  first  time  in  the  Bible  that  the  word 
is  used;  and  it  is  remarkable,  in  that  it  contains  the 
word  which  is  afterwards  translated  "angel."  This 
also  is  in  harmony  with  our  Lord's  own  words  in 
reference  to  the  work  of  redemption  which  he 
brought  to  a  conclusion  afterwards  in  the  flesh. 
"I  have  finished  the  work  which  thou  gavest  me 
to  do,"  not  the  work  which  thou  gavest  me  to 
make.  The  work  was  not  the  things  which  he  had 
made,  but  the  task  which  he  had  performed  in 
making  them.  As  the  Angel  of  God  he  spoke  in 
the  garden ;  and  as  the  Angel  of  God  he  was  known 
to  those  to  whom  he  spoke.  But  before  considering 
this  more  fully  we  must  notice  the  change  in  his 
name. 


>un- 

he 

and 

rm- 

in 

een 

was 

' 

we 

? 

oth 

1 

ler, 

1 

L 

■the 

Ithe 

^ 

HIS   NAME. 

The  work  of  creation  being  ended,  and  human 
history  begun,  we  notice  the  important  fact  that  he 
who  made  all  things  at  the  Father's  command  is 
called  by  a  new  name.  It  is  necessary  to  repeat 
emphatically  that  the  Person  who,  in  the  work  of 
creation  is  called  God,  is  the  same  Person  who,  in 
the  history,  is  called  the  Lord  God,  Jehovah  Aleim. 
The  significance  of  this  change  of  name  is  what  we 
have  now  to  consider. 

The  prominence  given  to  names  is  a  marked 
feature  in  this  history.     God   gave   names  to   the 


22 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


!  1 


tilings  which  he  made, — the  light,  the  darkness,  the 
firmament,  the  earth,  the  seas,  and  man.  The  man 
gave  names  to  every  living  creature,  ending  with 
his  wi.  .  Eve  gave  names  to  her  children.  Those 
names  were  not  arbitrary  contrivances  for  identity 
after  the  manner  of  men.  Each  had  its  own  sig- 
nificance. No  one  can  read  this  narrative  with 
attention,  and  not  perceive  that  every  word  has 
weight,  and  is  exactly  suited  to  its  place,  for  which 
reason  we  may  say  that  this  history  has  that  miich- 
coveted  quality  in  literature  which  we  call  elegance, 
or  pertinent  choice  of  the  right  word.  Seeing  then 
the  importance  here  given  to  names,  as  pertaining 
to  all  the  creatures,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the 
change  in  the  Son's  name  was  idle.  Nor  is  the 
reason  of  it  far  to  seek.  For  we  observe  this  first  of 
all  that  it  was  God's  way,  when  he  employed  persons 
in  any  new  service,  or  new  term  of  service,  or 
ordained  them  to  any  new  destiny,  he  changed  their 
names.  The  instances  of  this  are  so  numerous  in 
the  Old  Testatment  that  they  will  occur  to  every 
reader,  while  many  forcible  examples  of  the  same 
are  found  in  the  New.  The  justice  of  its  applica- 
tion to  the  Son  of  God  in  this  new  appointment  is 
the  more  obvious  seeing  that  a  new  name  was  given 
to  him  afterwards  when  he  entered  on  his  new 
period  of  work  as  son  of  man,  whom  it  behooved  in 
all  things  to  be  made  like  unto  his  brethren.  He 
who,  on  taking  charge  of  the  human  family  in  the 
garden,  was  called  Jehovah  Aleim,  was,  when  he 
appeared  in  the  flesh  to  redeem  mankind,  called 
Jehovah  Savior. 

Before  making  application  of  this  truth   to   the 
question  immediately  before  us,  it  may  be  interest- 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


33 


le 
jt- 


ingf  to  note  the  fact  that  the  names  of  the  faithful 
are  said  to  be  written  in  a  book.  The  commantl- 
nicnts  of  God  were  written  by  the  finger  of  God.  If 
we  had  one  word  written  by  the  finger  of  Jesus,  it 
would  be  csteemo'l  above  all  relics.  We  read  of 
one  occasion  or  *  '-  ''esus  wrote;  and  I  suppose 
many  have  speci  .a  in  their  minds  what  it  might 
be  that  he  wrote.  We  may  be  sure  that  it  was 
something  of  great  importance,  and  its  being  on 
record  makes  it  a  just  subject  of  interpretation. 
"Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  words 
{^hall  not  pass  away."  Whether  spoken  or  written, 
they  will  endure  forever;  Is  there  any  means  by 
which  we  may  reasonably  gather,  not  the  exact 
words,  but  the  import  of  what  he  wrote?  I  believe, 
that  by  the  application  of  the  apostle's  rule  for  the 
study  of  the  Scriptures  given  in  one  of  his  epistles, 
namely,  comparing  spiritual  things  with  spiritual, 
we  may  learn  something  of  what  might  otherwise 
seem  obscure.  I  think  we  may  without  presimip- 
tion  inquire  into  the  meaning  of  the  things  which 
Jesus  did,  as  well  as  of  what  he  said.  In  one  of 
the  prophecies  of  Jeremiah  it  was  written  that 
because  Israel  had  forsaken  the  Lord,  the  fountain 
of  living  waters,  their  names  should  be  written,  not 
in  heaven  but  in  the  earth.  The  words  are  remark- 
able. "O  Lord,  the  hope  of  Israel,  all  that  forsake 
thee  shall  be  ashamed,  and  they  that  depart  from 
me  shall  be  written  in  the  earth,  because  they 
have  forsaken  the  Lord,  the  fountain  of  living 
waters."  Now  it  was  just  after  speaking  of  himself 
as  the  fountain  of  living  waters,  that  Jesus,  in  the 
midst  of  his  adversaries,  stooped  down  and  wrote 
(not  on  the  floor  or  on  the  pavement,  but)  on  ' '  the 


24 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


1 1 

[ii 


earth," — the  very  word  of  the  prophet.  Afterwards 
he  said  to  them,  "Ye  are  from  beneath;  I  am  from 
above.  Where  I  am  thither  you  cannot  come."  As 
if  to  say,  Your  names  are  written  on  the  earth  with 
the  disobedient,  and  not  in  heaven  with  the  faithful. 
And  another  prophecy  to  the  same  effect  says  of  the 
same  people,  "Let  them  be  blotted  out  of  the  book 
of  the  living,  and  not  be  written  with  the  righteous." 
Is  it  out  of  harmony  with  the  occasion  to  suppose 
that  what  our  Lord  wrote  may  have  had  reference 
to  Israel's  irrevocable  doom,  as  foretold  by  the 
prophets? 

But  to  return  to  God's  way  of  calling  by  a  new 
name  those  whom  he  appoints  to  a  new  work ;  and 
to  seek  a  reason  for  the  change  of  name  to  which 
we  are  referring. 

It  may.  however,  be  here  observed  that  the  word 
Aleim,  God,  in  the  first  chapter,  is  more  properly 
an  appellation  of  deity  than  a  name,  though,  for  the 
sake  of  perspicuity,  we  will  still  speak  of  Jehovah 
as  a  new  name. 

Now  as  a  new  name  was  given  to  the  Son  when 
he  was  born  into  the  world,  the  name  Jehovah  being 
retained  and  a  new  name  added ;  and  as  this  was  done 
because  he  entered  on  a  new  period  of  service  as 
Son  of  Man ;  so  a  new  name  was  added  to  the  first, 
when,  having  served  God  in  the  creation,  he  now 
began  to  serve  him  in  government.  As  the  name 
Jesus  was  an  implicit  token  of  his  divine  mission  in 
the  flesh  to  perfect  man's  salvation,  the  name 
Jehovah  was  an  implicit  token  of  his  investiture 
with  sovereign  command  over  the  children  of  men, 
just  as  a  proxy,  duly  accredited,  bears  for  the  occa- 
sion the  name  of  the  principal,  and  lawfully  acts  in 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


25 


his  stead.  The  name  Jehovah,  then,  did  not  inde- 
pendently inhere  in  the  Son,  but  was  communicated 
to  him  by  God,  to  whom,  as  God,  it  originally 
belongs,  and  who  bears  it  forever.  Thus  when 
God  warned  Israel  not  to  provoke  his  a  igel,  he 
added,  for  mv  name  is  in  him.  And  as  the  name 
Jehovah  belong.s  to  God,  therefore  the  scriptrre 
says,  "Jehovah  our  God  is  one  Jehovah."  The 
name  is  one.  "In  the  name  of  the  father  and  of 
the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  It  is  the  Father's 
name  first.  "Hallowed  be  thy  name. "  Being  the 
Son's  name  also  by  communication,  it  is  historical. 
We  know  when  it  v^^as  given  and  why.  The  ques- 
tion in  the  Book  of  Job,  "What  is  his  name,  and 
what  his  Son's  nam3,  if  thou  canst  tell,"  shows  how 
early  this  thought  was  in  the  minds  of  God's  people, 
seeking  something  more  than  the  letter,  but  the 
spirit  and  meaning  of  the  name.  It  is  plain,  theii, 
from  scripture  that  the  name  Jehovah  is  less  an 
appellation  of  Deity  than  a  name,  adopted  by  God, — 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, — in  reference  to  the 
purpose  in  which  each  is  concerned,  the  purpose  of 
man's  salvation.  It  stands  at  the  beginning  of  the 
scriptures,  and,  being  applied  to  the  Son,  marks  his 
pre-eminence — the  pre-eminence  of  Him  who  gave 
himself  as  a  sacrifice  to  this  very  end.  We  must 
not  shrink  from  the  full  testimony  of  the  scripture, 
however  men  may  construe  it,  that  God  promised 
eternal  life  before  the  world  began.  The  harmony 
of  this  truth  with  the  scriptures  at  large  appears  in 
this  that  when  a  man  turns  to  God  he  is  called  by  a 
new  name.  This  is  made  clear  in  the  promise  made 
to  each  such  person,  "I  will  write  upon  him  my  new 
name." 


i 


20 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


m    , 


THE    NAME   KEPT    SECRET. 

We  must  further  observe,  as  needful  to  the  under- 
standing of  the  mystery,  that  the  name  Jehovah, 
in  its  ultimate  import,  was  kept  secret  through  the 
early  ages.  The  revelation  of  Jesus  was  partial  and 
progressive.  "Why  dost  thou  ask  after  my  name," 
he  said  to  Jacob,  bestowing  upon  him  his  blessing, 
but  not  answering  his  question.  And  to  Manoah  he 
said,  "Why  asked  thou  thus  after  my  name,  seeing 
that  it  is  v/onderful?"  The  sound  of  the  name  was 
familiar,  but  its  significance  was  not  yet  under- 
stood. "His  name  shall  be  called  "Wonderful," 
said  a  prophet  in  a  later  age.  Also,  when  bringing 
his  people  out  of  F'^-yp*-,  he  said  to  Moses,  "I  am 
Jehovah;  And  I  appe:  ^'ed  unto  Abraham,  unto 
Is-iac,  and  imto  Jacob,  by  the  name  of  God  Almighty, 
but  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known  to  them." 
The  combining  of  the  name  with  the  person  who 
speaks  in  this  passage  is  untranslatable,  but  signifi- 
cant. There  is  the  same  air  of  mystery  about  it  as 
we  have  noticed  in  the  words  of  Jesus  to  a  similar 
effect.  The  word  "by,"  found  in  both  our  versions, 
is  not  in  the  original.  Now  we  know  that  the  fathers 
did  call  upon  that  name,  nor,  in  the  passage  quoted, 
is  it  denied ;  but  its  full  import  was  as  yet  a  mystery ; 
just  as  in  life,  people,  especially  children,  may  call 
a  person  by  a  certain  name,  and  yet  little  know  all 
that  the  name  imports.  A  father  reveals  himself 
to  a  child  in  tender  embraces,  and  gifts  suitable  to 
its  age,  while  the  rich  inheritance  which  the  relation 
ultimately  assures  is  bej'ond  its  understanding. 
The  personal  experience  of  the  fathers  concerning 
Jehovah's  promises  was  mainly  confined  to  temporal 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


27 


goods,  the  higher  benefits  to  come  were  but  darkly 
hinted  at,  as  when  he  said  that,  in  the  full  develop- 
ment of  his  purpose,  men  should  tremble  and  fear 
for  all  the  goodness  that  he  would  procure  for  them, 
so  wonderful  would  it  be.  This  ignorance  of  the 
patriarchs  concerning  the  import  of  a  name  so 
familiar  to  them  in  sound  should  occasion  little 
surprise  when  we  remember  how  the  disciples  of 
Jesus  themselves,  after  years  of  intercourse,  still 
remained  ignorant  of  all  that  was  implied  in  a  name 
so  familiar  to  their  lips.  At  the  very  end  of  his 
ministry  he  could  still  say  to  one  of  them,  "Have  I 
been  so  long  time  with  you — and  hast  thou  not 
known  me?" 

The  name  Jehovah,  then,  is  not  a  word  of  four 
letters,  producing  a  certain  sound,  but  a  name 
which  points  to  the  quality  of  the  person  who 
bears  it.  "I  am  what  I  am";  and  what  he  is  is 
plainly  declared  in  Ex.  34:5-7.  "And  Jehovah 
descended  in  the  cloud,  and  stood  with  him  there, 
and  proclaimed  the  name  of  Jehovah.  And 
Jehovah  passed  by  before  him,  and  proclaimed, 
Jehovah,  Jehovah,  God,  m.erciful  and  gracious,  long 
suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth: 
keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity  and 
transgression  and  sin,  and  that  will  by  no  means 
clear  the  guilty:  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children,  and  upon  the  children's  children, 
unto  the  third  and  to  the  fourth  generation. "  As  if 
to  say,  This  is  ray  name.  I  am  all  this.  By  this 
we  may  understand  what  is  meant  when  it  is  said, 
"Thou  hast  magnified  thy  word  above  all  thy 
name."  It  is  specially  applicable  to  the  Jews,  who, 
while  they  revered  the  letter  of  the  name,  knew  not 


ii; 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning' 


the  WORD  which  declared  its  meaning;  the  loving 
kindness  and  truth  of  him  who  bore  it.  Instances 
will  occur  to  the  reader's  mind  of  persons  in  ancient 
and  modern  times  attaching  a  supernatural  virtue 
to  a  name,  while  entirely  ignorant  of  its  true  signifi- 
cance. None  knew  this  name  perfectly  till  Jesus 
appeared.  The  name  Jehovah  is  now  rarely  used, 
except,  perhaps,  rhetorically,  in  Christian  phrase- 
ology. The  name,  Jesus,  which  includes  it,  has 
taken  its  place.  None  the  less  is  the  saying  true, 
"This  is  my  name  forever."  He  was  with  the 
church  in  the  wilderness,  he  is  with  his  church  to 
the  end  of  the  world,  bearing  the  name  which  is 
above  every  name,  Jehovah  the  Savior.  By  this  is 
he  divinely,  as  well  as  humanly,  distinguished  from 
Jehovah,  the  Father,  and  from  Jehovah,  the  Spirit 
("the  Lord  die  Spirit"). 

It  is  plan,  let  us  say  again,  from  this  divine 
unfolding  of  the  name,  Jehovah,  that  it  has  refer- 
ence only  to  (lod's  dealings  with  men  as  sinners, 
and  that,  apart  from  this  relation,  it  does  not  apper- 
tain to  the  Deity.  And  as  it  was  given  to  the  Son 
of  God  before  sin  entered  into  the  world,  we  can  see 
the  ground  of  the  apostolic  interpretations  that  the 
salvation  of  mankind,  and  the  sacrifice  by  which  it 
was  accomplished,  were  pre-dctermined  before  the 
world  began.  However  some  may  stumble  at  this 
interpretation,  it  must  certainly  be  taken  into 
account  of  we  would  understand  the  scriptures. 
(Rom.  9:  21). 

SATAN'S    FRAUDULENT    DEVICE. 

The  nature  of  the  fraud  by  which  Satan  led  the 
woman  to  transgress  is  so  variously  interpreted  that 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


29 


the  reader  will,  I  trust,  bear  with  a  somewhat  closer 
examination  into  the  narrative  than  we  may  some- 
times be  apt  to  give  it.  It  may  then,  perhapn, 
appear  that  the  obscurity  of  which  some  complain  is 
not  in  the  narrative  itself,  but  arises  out  of  precon- 
ceived notions,  or  an  imperfect  apprehcnsic  n  of  the 
significance  of  names  and  terms,  or  from  want  of 
adverting  to  its  necessarily  implied  relations. 

When  Satan  said  to  Jesus  that  he  would,  on  a 
certain  condition,  give  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world  and  all  the  glory  of  them,  and  added  that  all 
that  was  within  his  right,  he  manifestly  appealed  to 
the  authority  of  God  as  supreme  over  all,  and  vir- 
tually, and,  in  a  sense,  lawfully,  claimed  that  by 
God's  appointment  he  was  the  prince  or  god  of  this 
world.  He  denied  not  the  authority  of  God  him- 
self, but  only  of  the  vSon  of  God.  If  Jesus  would 
give  up  this  pretension,  and  promise  fealty  to  him- 
self, he  would  make  him  supreme  over  all  earthly 
sovereigns.  He  assumed  precisely  the  same  atti- 
tude in  the  garden  as  he  afterwards  did  in  the 
wilderness.  He  wanted  to  persuade  tlie  woman 
that  he  who,  as  God's  Angel  or  Messenger,  had 
forbidden  them  to  eat  the  fruit  of  a  certain  tree,  had 
no  authority  from  God  to  impose  such  a  restriction. 
This  is  implied  in  the  question,  "Yea,  hath  God 
said,  ye  shall  not  eat  of  every  tree  of  the  garden?^' 
As  if  to  say.  You  may  have  been  told  it,  but  hath 
God  said  it?  He  did  not,  you  will  observe,  say. 
Hath  Jehovah  Aleim  said  it?  He  ignored  him;  did 
not  mention  his  name.  He  spoke  only  of  God,  and 
that  in  the  way  in  which  he  is  generally  referred  to 
in  the  scriptures,  as  the  supreme  invisible  Being, 
who  makes  known  his  will  by  angels  or  messengers. 


^^ 


30 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


In  this  view  we  must  assume  that  he  claimed,  as  he 
did  claim  in  the  wilderness,  that  he  himself  had 
authority  from  God.  And,  in  truth,  he  was  an 
angel,  though  fallen,  and  in  God's  sovereign  will 
and  pleasure  was  sent  on  his  errands.  A  signal 
proof  of  this  you  will  find  in  i  Kings  22 :  19-22.  How 
to  beget  the  woman's  belief  and  confidence  in  his 
pretensions  was,  of  necessity,  the  first  thing  to  be 
considered.  Here  we  come  upon  a  much  contro- 
verted question.  Surely  the  last  thing  to  be  thought 
of  would  be  to  appear  before  her  in  the  form  of  a 
speaking  serpent,  a  venomous  reptile.  To  suppose 
this  would  be  to  assume,  what  is  out  of  all  reason, 
that  the  brute  creatures  were  different  then  from 
what  they  are  now.  Knowing  their  natures  and 
qualities  as  it  is  certain  from  the  narrative  her  hus- 
band, and  therefore  herself,  did  know  them,  such  a 
prodigy  could  only  alarm  and  repel  her.  All  the 
charms  of  language  with  which  poets  have  sought 
to  describe  the  beast,  and  render  its  action  harmoni- 
ous with  the  occasion,  must  fail  to  reconcile  us  to 
such  an  interpretation.  It  was  surely  the  character, 
and  not  the  form,  that  was  here  intended.  To  call 
a  person  a  serpent,  whose  beauteous  aspect  clothes 
a  deceitful  mind,  is  a  very  common  mode  of  speech ; 
and  to  assume  a  guise  which  will  attract,  and  not 
repel,  is  the  invariable  rule  of  tempters  and  seduc- 
ers. A  more  reasonable  interpretation  is  suggested 
by  an  apostle,  namely,  that  Satan  tempted  the 
woman  in  the  form  of  an  angel  of  light.  We  can 
see  then  how,  clothed  with  angelic  radiance,  he 
would  obtain  a  favorable  ^iid  ready  hearing,  and 
cause  the  woman  neither  dread  nor  surprise.  She 
would  regard  him  as  one  of  those  heavenly  visitants 


!l 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


31 


with  whom  she  had  been  conversant  in  all  her 
bringing  up,  and,  therefore,  as  one  to  be  welcomed 
by  her  as  a  sure  and  trusty  friend. 

But  further.  The  reader  may  have  noticed  in  his 
question  a  certain  abruptness,  which  seems  to  imply 
a  something  going  before  and  leadir^^  to  it.  He 
spoke  as  if  he  had  learned  something  which  had 
caused  him  surprise.  A  little  further  consideration 
will  show  that  what  he  professed  to  have  been  told 
was  not  that  which  they  had  really  been  forbidden 
to  do.  Still  he  asked.  Was  it  true  that  they  might 
not  eat  of  every  tree  of  the  garden?  Had  God  said 
it?  The  woman,  hastening  to  correct  this  mistake, 
and  informing  him  that  it  was  not  of  the  trees  of 
the  garden,  but  of  a  tree  in  the  midst  of  the  garden, 
that  they  might  not  eat,  gave  him  the  opening  which 
he  plainly  aimed  at,  namely,  a  statement  from  her 
own  lips  of  the  real  grievance.  He  could  now  insin- 
uate that  even  the  restraint  which  he  had  supposed 
at  first  would  have  done  them  a  wrong,  but  this 
much  more.  He  might  not  have  ventured  to  advise 
her  in  the  matter,  had  she  not  stated  it  with  her 
own  lips,  but  now  he  would  give  her  the  reasons 
why  such  a  restraint  on  their  freedom  could  not 
have  come  from  God.  It  is  a  common  device  of 
those  who  v/ould  poison  their  interlocutor's  mind 
against  another  person  to  begin  with  some  trifling 
injury  in  the  way  of  innocent  inquiry,  and  when 
they  have  elicited  from  his  own  lips  the  real  matter 
of  c  '  olaint,  to  direct  their  arguments  to  that. 
Had  buwan  begun  at  once  on  the  more  serious 
aspect  of  the  case,  and  on  his  own  initiative  pro- 
ceeded to  urge  her  to  disregard  what  she  had 
believed  to  be  a  command  of  God,  it  might  prema- 


32 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


I' 


turely  have  alarmed  her  conscience,  and  set  her  on 
the  defensive,  but  the  way  being  now  prepared  by 
this  avowal  from  herself,  he  had  already  set  her  on 
the  road  to  compliance.  It  is  difficult  not  to  see 
already  a  note  of  exaggeration,  if  not  of  discontent, 
in  the  readiness  and  fulness  with  which  she  stated 
the  restraint  imdcr  which  they  labored.  It  may 
well  be  that  even  before  this,  while  innocent  of  any 
thought  of  disobedience,  her  curiosity  had  been 
piqued,  and  her  desire  awakened,  as  to  what  this 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil  might  be  from  which 
they  were  debarred.  But  now  that  the  question  was 
raised  through  her  own  doing,  the  subtle  suggestion 
of  unfair  treatment  would  naturally  prepare  her  to 
listen  to  the  tempter's  argument.  Perhaps  Satan 
never  aimed  a  more  polished  shaft  against  human 
integrity,  or  more  skilfully  prepared  the  soul  for 
the  reception  of  evil  seed,  than  in  this  device.  The 
way  was  now  open  for  his  main  assault.  He  would 
by  no  means  persuade  her  to  rebel  against  God,  but 
he  would  sh>AV  her  that  she  had  been  deceived  in 
supposing  that  the  restriction  in  question  came  from 
God.  It  was  not  worthy  of  his  goodness,  and  his 
desire  for  their  perfection.  So  far  from  proving 
fatal,  their  eating  the  fruit  would  have  a  beneficial 
effect.  He  said  nothing  of  any  enjoyment  of  a  sen- 
sual nature  attendant  upon  the  act.  He  insisted 
only  upon  one  thing.  It  would  make  them  intellec- 
tually like  God  himself.  Their  eyes  would  be 
opened,  and  they  would  know  good  and  evil.  To 
be  like  God  was  the  end  of  their  being.  They  v/ere 
made  in  the  image  of  God,  nor  could  that  image  be 
perfected  so  long  as  they  allowed  such  a  restraint 
upon  their  liberty  to  remain.     It  is  plain  from  the 


M    t 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


33 


purely  intellectual  character  of  the  tempter's  argu- 
ment, that  he  was  not  of  the  opinion  that  the  woman 
could  be  won,  as  some  suppose  she  was  won,  by  a 
mere  appeal  to  her  sensual  appetites. 

The  subtle  manner  in  which  the  tempter  pro- 
ceeded to  undermine  the  woman's  confidence,  shows 
that  he  did  not  expect  her  to  fall  an  easy  prey  to 
his  design.  Perhaps  the  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment had  this  history  in  mind  when  they  spoke  of 
the  depths  of  Satan,  and  appealed  to  believers  as 
not  being  ignorant  of  his  devices. 

The  woman  did  not  yi'^ld  without  reflection.  She 
listened  as  one  accountable  for  her  actions.  She 
reasoned  with  herself,  as  all  do  who  are  templed  to 
change  their  minds  on  a  matter  of  importance,  in 
which  a  mistake  might  be  fatal.  The  penalty  in 
this  case  was  death,  and  was  not  lightly  to  be 
incurred.  The  beauty  of  the  forbidden  object,  its 
voluptuous  charms,  and,  above  all,  the  aid  it  would 
be  to  their  intellectual  advancement,  seized  upon 
her  imagination,  and  captured  her  sense,  and  dis- 
posed her  to  accept  the  tempter's  reasoning  as  valid. 
"When  she  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food, 
and  that  it  was  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to 
be  desired  to  make  one  wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit 
thereof,  and  did  eat,  and  gave  also  unto  her  husband 
with  her,  and  he  did  eat."  This  word,  "saw,"  indi- 
cates not  only  bodily  sight,  uuL  intellectual  vision 
and  judgment.  It  was  used  of  Goci  himself.  "God 
SAW  everything  which  he  had  made  and  behold  it 
was  very  good"  ;  so  the  woman,  weighing  the  merits 
and  circumstances  of  the  case,  saw  reason  to  yield 
to  the  tempter's  arguments.  And  here  we  see  the 
force  of   the  apostle's   conclusion  that  the  woman 


34 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


sinned  because  she  was  deceived.  She  did  not  wil- 
fully rebel  against  God.  She  suffered  herself  to  be 
persuaded  that  God  had  given  no  such  command, 
and  that  he  who  had  delivered  the  message,  as 
from  him,  had  deceived  them.  Here  was  the  fatal 
element  in  the  act  of  transgression.  It  was  a  defec- 
tion from  the  Son  of  God,  God's  messenger;  and 
this  is  the  source  of  all  evil.  Her  husband  was  not 
deceived.  By  what  process  of  reasoning  or  by  the 
influence  of  what  motive,  he  gave  in  to  his  wife,  we 
know  not.  vVe  only  know  that  the  apostasy  begun 
by  her,  being  now  confirmed  by  himself,  the  head, 
delivered  the  family  of  mankind  to  Satan's  domin- 
ion; and  the  v;ork  of  the  Son  of  God,  in  due  time 
to  be  called  Jesus,  henceforth  became  remedial. 
This  is  a  mystery,  but  it  is  the  plain  teaching  of  the 
Gospel. 

We  will,  however,  ask  the  reader's  indulgence  for 
some  further  remarks  on  the  harmony  of  this  narra- 
tive with  all  that  was  subsequently  revealed.  We 
cannot  for  a  moment  suppose  that  the  Lord  God — 
Jesus  who  was  to  be — who,  as  God's  messenger,  was 
ever  with  them  in  the  garden,  had  failed  to  warn 
them  of  the  temptation  by  which  their  constancy 
would  be  tried.  Their  resistance,  indeed,  must  be 
of  their  own  free  will ;  but  it  would  be  to  miscon- 
ceive his  dealings  with  men  throughout  the  ages  to 
imagine  that  he  allowed  the  trial  to  come  upon  them 
unawares.  In  the  flesh  he  constantly  warned  his 
disciples  of  the  temptations  to  which  they  would  be 
exposed ;  yet  even  so  they  sometimes  fell.  As  the 
man  knew  the  qualities  of  all  living  creatures,  and 
therefore  knew  the  quality  of  the  serpent,  that  it 
was  more  subtle  than  any  beast  of  the  field  which 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


35 


Is 
|e 


the  Lord  God  had  made,  the  creature  might  well 
become  a  figure  in  the  Lord's  mouth  for  their 
instruction.  This  was  his  way  with  his  disciples 
when  on  earth.  "Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field," 
he  said,  "how  they  grow";  so  might  he  say,  Con- 
sider this  creature,  how,  by  its  wiles,  it  prevails 
over  its  weak  and  unsuspecting  prey.  Let  them 
beware  of  one  who  would  practice  similar  wiles  on 
themselves  to  draw  them  away  from  God.  In  this 
light  the  woman's  confession  appears  natural,  when, 
her  eyes  being  open  to  the  fraud  of  which  she  had 
become  the  imsuspecting  victim,  she  perceived  that 
this  was  the  person  against  whose  wiles  they  had 
been  warned.  She  could  now  give  the  false  angel 
his  true  name.  "The  serpent  beguiled  me  and  I 
did  eat." 

Let  us  further  observe  that  the  above  interpreta- 
tion of  Satan's  attitude  towards  Jehovah  Aleim  is 
in  harmony  with  the  Jews'  attitude  toward  him 
when  he  appeared  in  the  flesh.  They  accused  him 
ot  deception  when  he  claimed  to  come  to  them  with 
a  message  from  God.  "He  deceiveth  the  people," 
they  said.  In  return,  he  plainly  told  them  that,  in 
assuming  this  attitude,  they  were  copying  the  devil 
himself.  "Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil,  and  the 
desires  of  your  father  ye  will  do."  The  devil's 
desire  in  the  garden  was  to  prevail  upon  the  woman 
to  assume  this  very  attitude  of  resistance  to  the 
authority  of  the  Son  of  God.  He  who  tempted  the 
Jews  to  deny  him,  was  the  same  who  tempted  the 
founders  of  their  race  to  deny  him.  And  this  is  still 
more  plain  from  the  fact  that  he  tempted  the  Son  of 
God  even  to  deny  himself. 

We  have  now  to  show  that  the  figurative  language 


II 


36 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


I  i 


in  which  this  narrative  is  in  part  conveyed  is  in 
harmony  with  the  language  of  the  Old  Testament 
throughout.  The  words  and  actions  of  the  man  and 
woman  are  expressed  in  language  simply  human. 
Not  so  of  the  spiritual  beings  on  whom  they 
depended  for  good  or  evil.  Through  all  the  ages 
Christ  was  represented  under  a  veil  of  imagery. 
Satan,  though  not,  like  Christ,  dignified  by  being 
made  a  direct  object  of  prophecy,  surrounded  by 
glorious  mystery,  but  rather  alluded  to  as  a  vile  and 
noxious  creature,  biting  at  the  heels  of  his  divine 
antagonist  in  his  march  to  victory,  is  often  covertly 
referred  to,  in  one  way  or  another,  as  present  with 
God's  servants  as  an  adversary,  exulting  in  their 
fall,  persecuting  their  souls,  tearing  them  like  a 
lion,  smiting  their  life  down  to  the  ground,  making 
them  to  dwell  in  darkness  which  was  death-like  and 
desolate,  language  little  appropriate  to  fleshly  ene- 
mies, but  very  pertinent  to  assaults  of  a  mighty 
spirit  of  evil.  On  the  other  hand,  the  power  and 
presence  of  the  most  High,  rendering  impotent 
those  attacks,  make  the  figure  of  a  sorry  serpent  in 
the  highest  degree  forcible  and  significant.  "Be- 
cause thou  hast  done  this,  thou  art  cursed  above  all 
cattle,  and  above  every  beast  of  the  field ;  upon  thy 
belly  shalt  thou  go,  and  dust  shalt  thou  eat  all  the 
days  of  thy  life."  Like  the  beast  which  prefigured 
him,  his  ways  should  be  prone  and  vile,  and  his 
designs  abortive.  The  prophet,  describing  the 
peace  and  glory  prepared  for  God's  people  imder 
various  similitudes,  adds,  "And  dust  shall  be  the 
serpent's  meat."  Dust  was  to  be  the  outcome  of 
all  his  craft  and  malice,  the  product  and  prey  of  all 
his  power  and  sovereignty.     The  pertinency  of  this 


i  ! 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


37 


figure,  however  mysterious  at  the  beginning,  is 
plainly  perceived  in  the  light  of  the  Gospel.  There 
is  in  it  even  a  literality  which  is  very  striking.  For 
as  he  had  brought  death  upon  the  human  family, 
and  is  even  said  to  have  the  power  of  death,  the 
futility  of  it  all  will  appear  when  the  very  dead 
shall  shake  oil  their  earthly  habiliments,  and  enter 
into  eternal  life  and  glory.  "Awake  and  sing,  ye 
that  dwell  in  dust:  thy  dew  is  as  the  dew  of  herbs: 
and  the  earth  shall  cast  forth  her  dead."  This  is 
all  that  will  remain  for  the  devil  of  all  his  craft  and 
toil;  the  dust  of  the  saints. 

Although  we  must  admit  that  God  may,  if  he 
pleases,  appoint  a  purely  arbitrary  test  of  obedi- 
ence, it  is  very  difficult,  I  think,  to  recognize  such 
a  test  in  this  history  as  generally  understood.  That 
death  and  condemnation  should  come  upon  man- 
kind as  a  punishment  for  eating  an  apple — as  some 
like  to  put  it — seems  harsh  and  feeble,  and  out  of 
all  keeping  with  human  thought  and  divine  proced- 
ure. As  Satan  himself  is  represented  under  a 
figure,  it  is  but  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  evil 
which  he  brought  upon  mankind,  and  the  instru- 
ment of  that  evil,  should  be  expressed  under  a  figure 
also.  A  tree  is  a  common  figure  in  the  scriptures, 
and  usually  represents  a  community  of  persons, — a 
family,  a  nation,  a  church.  If,  then,  this  tree,  the 
tree  of  knowledge,  of  good,  and  of  evil,  be  taken  as 
a  figure,  say  of  the  world,  it  will,  I  think,  be  found 
not  only  in  harmony  with  the  scripture — which  says, 
"Their  vine  is  of  the  vine  of  Sodom,  and  of  the 
fields  of  Gomorrah" — but  in  accord  also  with  the 
truth  that  "the  sin  of  the  world" — that  sin  which 
the  Lamb  of  God  taketh  away — is  not  denial  of  God, 


ii' 


38 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


but  rejection  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  virtual 
acceptance  of  Satan  as  Prince  in  his  stead.  The 
world  actually  began  when  man,  obeying  the  devil's 
counsel  and  will,  virtuallj'  accepted  him  as  his  liege. 
Nor  does  the  fact  that  the  world  till  then  had  no 
existence  go  against  this  truth.  If  Satan,  as  we 
know,  had  power  to  present  to  the  mind  of  Jesus  all 
the  kingdoniS  of  the  world  and  their  glory,  though 
invisible  to  his  sight,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  he 
had  power  to  present  .0  the  imagination  of  the 
woman  such  a  picture  of  the  glory  of  his  dominion 
and  its  delights,  as  would  powerfully  work  upon  her 
natural  desires.  In  comparison  with  this,  the  fruits 
of  the  garden  would  appear  mean,  its  limits  narrow, 
and  the  occupation  they  had  hitherto  pursued  con- 
temptible. It  is  the  worldly  spirit  ever,  and  must 
have  had  a  beginning;  and  that  it  began  then, 
immediately  appeared  in  the  man's  posterity.  Cain 
was  the  first  fruit  of  Satan's  kingdom,  the  king- 
dom of  which  man's  apostasy  was  the  root  and 
beginning. 

Further  we  may  perceive  from  the  narrative  itself 
that  the  tree  of  knowledge  also  must  be  taken  in 
the  figurative  sense.  For  at  the  very  time  of  his 
creation,  God  gave  man  unlimited  use  of  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  earth.  "Behold  I  have  given  you  every 
herb  bearing  seed  which  is  upon  the  face  of  all  the 
earth,  and  every  tree  in  which  is  the  fruit  of  a  tree 
yielding  seed;  to  you  it  shall  be  for  meat."  The 
grant  is  absolute,  and  it  is  not  conceivable  that  one 
tree  should  afterwards  be  reserved,  of  which  they 
might  not  eat.  The  grant  was  equally  absolute, 
when  the  command  was  given  to  abstain  from  the 
tree  of  knowledge.     It  runs  thus,  *'0f  every  tree 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


39 


OF  THE  GARDEN  thou  maycst  FREELY  Cat;  but  of  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  thou  shalt  not 
eat  of  it."  The  distinction  between  the  trees  of  the 
garden  and  the  tree  of  knowledge  is  plainly  marked. 
Still  more  plainly,  if  possible,  is  it  marked  in  the 
answer  of  the  woman  to  the  serpent's  question  con- 
cerning this  very  prohibition,  "We  may  eat  of  the 

fruit  of    THE  TRKES    OF  THE    GARDEN;    but  of    the  fruit 

of  the  tree  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  garden 
God  hath  said,  ye  shall  not  eat  of  it."  If  the  latter 
were  a  natural  tree,  then  it  was  a  tree  of  the  garden, 
and  the  distinction  at  once  becomes  plain. 

The  language  also  in  which  the  tree  of  life  is 
described  is  similar  to  this.  It  was  not  a  tree  of  the 
garden,  but  a  tree  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  I 
suppose  no  one  in  his  right  mind  can  deny  that  this 
was  a  figure,  or  imagine  that  the  scripture  teaches 
that  the  fruit  of  any  natural  tree — an  apple,  a  fig, 
or  what  not — can  give  life  forever  to  any  that 
should  eat  thereof;  or  that  any  tree  which  ever 
grew  could  heal  the  nations  who  ate  of  its  leaves,  as 
in  the  Book  of  the  Revelation  is  said.  And  as  the 
tree  of  life  gives  life  by  a  virtue  in  itself,  so  it  is 
consi^'tent  to  suppose  that  the  tree  of  knowledge 
caused  death  by  a  quality  inherent  in  itself.  This 
agrees  with  what  is  said  of  the  corruption  that  is  in 
the  world  through  desire :  showing  that  death  is  a 
natural  consequence  of  sin,  before  it  becomes  a 
sentence  upon  sin.  Taking  the  trees  as  figures,  we 
see  nothing  but  harmony.  The  tree  of  life  and  the 
tree  of  death;  Christ  and  Satan;  are  everywhere 
present  to  tempt  or  to  save.  When  a  man  sins,  he 
denies  that  he  sins  against  God.  Who  tells  him  so 
is  a  deceiver,  and  speaks  without  authority.     Thus 


40 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


i  1 ' 


lut 


)! 
I' 

V 


W 

ii: 


the  ancients  charged  the  prophets*,  the  Jews  Jesus, 
the  world  at  large  Christian  teachers,  and  even  the 
Bible  itself,  with  delivering  commands  which  God 
has  not  spoken.  And  this  antagonism  began  in  the 
garden,  when  Satan  charged  the  Son  of  God  with 
speaking  what  he  had  no  authority  to  speak.  "Yea, 
hath  God  said?" 

The  divine  procedure,  then,  the  common  judg- 
ment of  mankind,  the  truth  of  human  affairs,  the 
analogy  between  the  two  trees,  and  the  letter  of  the 
narrative,  co^ibine  to  prove  that  the  forbidden  fruit 
was  not  a  natural  product  of  the  earth  but  a  spirit- 
ual evil  which  in  the  divine  wisdom  was  wrapped  up 
in  a  mystery.  Nor,  I  think,  is  that  of  which  it  is  a 
figure  far  to  seek.  The  language  of  scripture,  not 
to  say  the  language  of  mankind,  furnishes  a  most 
perfect  analogy.  As  spiritually  minded  persons  are 
said  to  eat  the  Word  of  God,  when  they  meditate  on 
its  meaning  to  the  refreshment  and  delight  of  their 
souls,  so  do  worldly  persons  feed  on  the  words 
which  describe  the  fascinations  of  sin.  The  world 
is  a  tree  which  yields  such  kind  of  fruit  in  abun- 
dance. As  a  camp  of  the  angels  of  God  met  Jacob 
to  cheer  him  on  his  way,  so  may  there  have  been  a 
camp  of  evil  angels,  Satan's  legion,  in  the  garden, 
to  whose  companionship  its  unwary  inhabitants  were 
enticed.  We  advance  it  not  as  a  revealed  truth,  but 
only  as  an  interpretation  which  is  neither  impossible 
not  discordant.  And  the  words  of  the  woman, 
whether  as  applied  to  Satan  or  his  host,  may  not 
have  been  imaginary  when  she  said  that  they  were 
not  even  to  touch  the  forbidden  thing.  So  says  the 
scripture  of  every  evil  way.  "Avoid  it,  pass  not  by 
it,  turn  from  it,  and  pass  away. ' ' 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


41 


FROM   DEATH    UNTO   LIFE. 

Perhaps  the  attention  of  Bible  readers  is  more 
generally  directed  to  the  deplorable  consequences 
of  the  fall  than  to  the  restoration  of  the  trans- 
gressors to  pardon  and  peace.  What  we  hope  now 
to  show,  by  a  just  interpretation  of  the  narrative,  is 
that  the  first  sinners  repented,  and  were  forgiven, 
before  their  expulsion  from  the  garden. 

To  make  this  plain  we  must  go  back  to  the  words 
of  the  Lord  God,  declaring  to  the  man  the  conse- 
quence which  would  follow  upon  disobedience.  "In 
the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  wilt  surely  die. " 
The  reader  will,  I  trust,  pardon  a  digression  here 
for  the  better  imderstanding  of  the  harmony  and 
consistency  of  the  narrative  at  large. 

What  is  death?  In  the  account  of  man's  creation 
there  is  a  clear  distinction  observed  between  the 
spirit  and  the  body.  The  man  was  first  created  in 
the  image  of  God,  and  was  therefore,  of  necessity,  a 
spirit,  God  himself  being  a  spirit.  The  spirit,  then, 
is  the  man;  the  body  an  appendage,  a  dwelling,  a 
medium  through  which  he  might  hold  communica- 
tion with  the  material  world  in  which  he  was  to  live, 
a  means,  in  short,  whereby  he  might  make  known 
and  do  his  will  therein.  As  the  spirit  and  flesh 
cannot  immediately  unite,  they  were  joined  together 
by  the  soul,  framed  to  this  end,  the  union  resulting 
being  so  perfect  and  harmonious  as  for  the  whole 
to  become  as  one  being.  "God  formed  the  man" — 
observe  the  article  as  marking  his  previous  exis- 
tence— "dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed  into  his 
nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  the  man  became  a 
living    soul" — also,   in  effect,   a  living    breathing 


42 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


animal.  For  the  constitution  of  the  whole  animal 
creation  is  analogous  to  this,  each  living  creature 
consisting  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  the  difference 
being  that  the  spirit  of  man,  as  made  in  the  image 
of  God,  tends  upward  unto  God,  as  the  scripture 
says,  the  spirit  of  the  beast,  downwards  to  the 
earth.  Thus  were  the  spirit  and  the  body  united  to 
make  one  man.  Death  was  the  dissolution  of  this 
union.  It  was  not,  of  necessity,  nor  according  to 
the  scriptures,  in  fact,  the  extinction  of  the  man, 
the  spirit,  but  his  release  or  dismissal  from  the 
earthly  tenement.  This  leads  at  once  to  the  distinc- 
tion between  death  as  a  natural  law,  and  death  as  a 
sentence,  a  distinction  as  plain  in  things  human  as 
in  things  divine. 

The  question  has  been  asked  whether,  if  man  had 
not  sinned,  he  would  have  died.  It  is  a  speculation 
with  which  we  have  really  no  concern.  As  we  know 
the  things  v/hich  God  has  done,  only  so  far  as  they 
are  revealed,  and  as  it  is  not  revealed  what  God 
might  have  done,  had  he  done  otherwise  than  he 
has  done,  we  can  only  take  things  as  they  are.  We 
may,  however,  say  this.  The  narrative  makes  it 
certain  that  nature  at  the  beginning  was  the  same 
as  nature  is  now.  Animals  lived  and  died  then  as 
now.  Looking  to  the  nature  of  things,  we  are  sure 
that  no  living  thing  of  earthly  formation  can  live 
forever.  All  living  things  must,  by  the  law  of 
nature,  die,  sooner  or  later. 

But  death  as  a  sentence  is  not  in  the  power  of 
nature,  but  in  the  power  of  the  Judge.  All  scrip- 
ture is  at  one  on  this,  that  the  time  and  manner  of 
death  are  in  God's  hand.  Man's  "days  are  deter- 
mined, the  number  of  his  months  is  with  thee.  " 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


43 


Now  I  think  we  gather  from  the  narrative  that 
the  man  and  the  woman  expected  nothing  less  than 
the  literal  fulfilment  of  the  sentence.  They  knew 
what  it  was  to  die.  Their  experience  of  nature  had 
shown  them  what  it  meant  for  life  to  be  violently 
and  suddenly  cut  off,  and  they  were  in  mortal  terror 
at  the  thought  that  their  own  hour  was  now  come. 
When  they  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord  God  calling 
them,  they  hid  themselves  in  fear  and  dread  ar  ong 
the  trees  of  the  garden — naked,  but  for  the  scanty 
covering  with  which  they  had  sought  to  clothe 
themselves,  overwhelmed  with  that  mysterious  sense 
of  shame,  hitherto  unknown,  which,  even  under  the 
most  brutal  conditions,  has  never  since  deserted  the 
human  breast,  they  came  forth  and  stood  before 
the  Son  of  God.  The  particulars  of  their  examina- 
tion and  of  their  respective  destinies  are  familiar  to 
the  reader,  and  need  not  be  recited  here.  But  what 
must  specially  be  noticed  is  that  he  did  not  speak  to 
them  as  a  Judge.  What  he  said  implied  just  one 
thing,  namely,  that  they  were  respited.  Sentence 
of  death  was  not  to  be  immediately  executed.  A 
future  was  marked  out  for  them,  the  conditions  of 
which  they  must  abide  till  God's  time  should  come 
for  them  to  be  taken  away ;  the  woman  in  sorrow  to 
bear  and  bring  up  children,  the  man  by  the  sweat 
of  his  brow  to  eat  bread.  Thus  they  knew  of  their 
respite.  And  we  may  take  it  as  in  harmony  with 
all  his  character  and  dealings  that  this  respite  was 
procured  by  the  mediation  of  Jesus.  It  meant  sal- 
vation. It  was  just  the  case  of  the  barren  tree, 
which  was  respited  for  awhile  that  there  might  be 
opportunity  of  repentance  and  amendment.  It  was 
as  true  then  as  when  he  appeared  in  the  flesh  that 


44 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


"God  sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn 
the  world  but  that  the  world  through  him  might  be 
saved."  Thus,  through  him,  judgment  was  so 
tempered  with  mercy  that  death  was  robbed  of  its 
imediate  terrors  for  these  first  sinners.  A  future 
was  set  before  them  which,  though  not  devoid  of 
toil  and  sorrow,  did  not  mean  absolute  despair.  The 
day  of  dissolution  was  yet  distant,  and  life  might 
yet  hold  some  good  thing  in  store  for  them. 

Here  this  part  of  the  narrative  comes  to  an  abrupt 
termination.  What  follows  is  of  so  entirely  differ- 
ent a  character  that  it  of  necessity  implies  an 
interval  coming  between  in  which  great  things 
were  done.  How,  by  a  just  interpretation,  we 
may  fill  up  this  interval  we  hope  to  show.  To  make 
our  meaning  plain  we  may  put  it  in  this  way. 

"In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till 
thou  return  unto  the  ground;  for  out  of  it  wast  thou 
taken ;  for  dust  thou  art,  and  iinto  dust  thou  shalt 
return. 


And  the  man  called  his  wife's  name  Life  (Eve), 
because  she  was  the  mother  of  all  living. " 

"Had  become,"  would,  I  think,  better  convey  the 
emphasis  of  the  original. 

Here  is  a  veritable  passage  from  death  unto  life. 
The  man,  instead  of  departing  heart-broken  and 
dejected  after  the  above  sorrowful  description  of 
his  future  life,  became  a  prophet,  and  spoke  as  a 
prophet,  and  in  giving  his  wife  a  new  name,  as 
good  as  said  that  old  things  had  passed  away  and  all 
things  had  become  new.  To  show  how  this  change 
must  have  come  to  pass  is  the  task  which  now  lies 
before  us. 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


45 


We  have  already  noticed  that,  when  a  new  name 
was  ^iven  to  a  person,  as  in  the  case  of  Abraham, 
Jacob,  and  even  to  the  Son  of  God  himself,  it  signi- 
fied a  change  of  character  or  office,  or  both.  Accord- 
ing to  this  rtile,  then,  the  woman,  receiving  a  new 
name,  had  become  a  new  creature,  with  a  nev/  call- 
ing or  purpose  of  existence.  There  is  no  doubt  of 
the  validity  of  the  grant.  There  was  no  question 
of  the  man's  right  to  give  her  the  name;  it  passed 
without  reproof,  and  was  followed  by  a  token  of  the 
Lord's  approval  and  acceptance.  The  vroman's  fust 
name — also  given  to  her  by  her  husband — signified 
her  destination  to  be  his  wife,  and  therefore,  as  the 
context  clearly  shows,  to  be  the  mother  of  the  whole 
human  race.  Had  she  received  no  other  name, 
then,  by  what  had  occurred,  she  was  mother  rather 
of  the  dead  than  of  the  living,  seeing  that  now 
death  had  passed  upon  all  men.  The  new  name 
could  not  signify  the  same  thing  over  again.  The 
living,  of  which  she  now  became  mother,  could  not 
be  the  whole  human  family,  for  of  that  she  was 
mother  before.  There  can  be  but  one  interpreta- 
tion. The  Lord's  words  make  it  plain.  In  the  sen- 
tence upon  Satan  he  said  that  a  son  born  of  or 
descended  from  the  woman  r>hf;uld  break  his  power 
who  by  his  device  had  brought  death  upon  mankind. 
And  of  him,  the  woman's  seed,  which  is  Christ,  the 
apostle  said  that  he  had  abolished  death,  and  brought 
life  and  immortality  to  light  through  the  Gospel. 
But  the  abolition  of  death  means  not  that  the  body 
should  not  die,  for  that  sentence  is  irreversible  for 
all  mankind,  but  that,  for  those  who  should  repent, 
it  would  be  annulled,  and  turned  into  a  life  which 
should  never  end.     For,  as  our  Lord  said,  he  was 


46 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


II 


sent  to  give  eternal  life  to  as  many  as  the  x  ather 
gave  to  him,  that  is,  to  all  who  should  obey  him. 
Of  all  such,  the  woman,  by  virtue  of  her  new  name, 
became  the  mother,  being  the  mother  of  him  by 
whom  they  all  live.  We  observe  also  that  from  this 
time  a  change  is  made  in  the  man's  name,  but  of 
this  more  in  its  proper  place. 

Ir,  then,  the  Gospel  be  the  root  of  Adam's 
prophecy;  if  Eve,  from  being  mother  of  a  dying 
race,  became  through  her  seed — Jesus  that  was  to 
be — mother  of  a  people  who  should  live  forever, 
she  must  herself  have  become  partaker  of  that  life 
through  the  grace  of  repentance.  She  must  have 
renounced  allegiance  to  Satan,  and  returned  to  God 
in  sorrow  for  her  sin.  And  the  narrative  shows  not 
only  that  she  did  so  but  that  it  was  the  Lord  himself 
who  enabled  her  and  made  her  willing.  For,  said 
he,  in  passing  judgment  upon  her  deceiver,  *'I  will 
PUT  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman. "  This  is 
purely  personal  to  the  woman,  what  follows  refer- 
ring to  her  seed.  Now  this  putting  of  enmity 
between  Satan  and  the  woman  means  the  breaking 
up  of  the  friendship  which  had  been  set  up  between 
them  when  she  listened  to  his  persuasion  and  did 
his  will.  It  also  implied  that  the  bond  still  contin- 
ued. Even  then,  Vv^hile  she  was  standing  a  culprit 
before  the  Lord,  she  was  still  Satan's  liege.  If  left 
to  herself,  she  must  so  continue.  In  the  moment 
of  remorse  and  dread  she  had  confessed  her  sin,  but 
now  that  she  was  respited  she  would,  unless  grace 
intervened,  go  back  to  it.  The  beauty,  the  glory, 
the  delight,  of  the  mysterious  fruit  with  which 
Satan  had  filled  her  soul,  would  return  when  the 
fear  of  death  had  passed  away.     It  is  always  so 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


47 


with  the  sinner.  To  rupture  the  bond  between 
Satan  and  the  soul  that  sins,  is  the  purpose  of  the 
Gospel.  For  so  the  Lord  said  in  sending  forth  the 
preacher.  It  was  "to  open  men's  eyes,  and  to  turn 
them  from  darkness  unto  light,  and  from  the  pow^  r 
OF  Satan  unto  God."  This  was  to  be  done  in  no 
other  way  than  by  the  preaching  of  the  word.  In 
no  other  way,  surely,  did  Jesus  in  the  garden  con- 
vert the  woman  from  the  error  of  her  way ;  speak- 
ing to  her  as  he  ever  spake  on  earth,  persuading 
and  convincing  her  by  the  power  of  truth.  For 
then  as  now  men  must  repent  and  turn  willingly. 
Each  must  decide  for  himself,  whether  to  accept  the 
offer  of  grace,  or  to  refuse  it.  The  woman  accept- 
ing it,  the  power  of  Satan  over  her  came  to  an  end, 
and  her  salvation  was  sealed  by  a  new  name  (Is. 
62:  2).  This  was  indeed  and  in  truth  the  beginning 
of  the  Gospel.  It  was  co-eval  with  man's  trans- 
gression. Here  is  the  beginning  of  the  constant 
teaching  of  scripture  that  salvation  is  of  grace.  It 
is  the  first  open  declaration  thereof  found  in  the 
scriptures.  That,  in  the  woman's  case,  grace  came 
before  repentance,  and  produced  it,  is  plain  from 
the  words.  "I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and 
the  woman."  Had  he  not  put  it,  it  would  not  have 
been  there.  The  words  were  fitly  spoken  to  Satan, 
to  show  that  great  as  was  the  power  he  had  acquired 
over  tue  woman's  soul,  his  was  greater,  and  that  he 
should  not  be  able  to  keep  souls  in  bondage  when 
he,  the  Son  of  God,  should  choose  to  deliver  them. 
Now  we  come  to  the  last  decisive  phase  of  this 
earliest  history  of  the  operations  of  grace.  That 
the  man  and  the  woman  had  repented;  that  they 
had  renounced  the  devil's  friendship,  and  accepted 


48 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


the  gift  of  eternal  life;  is  plain  from  the  man's 
exultant  act.  From  the  context  it  also  appears  that 
their  repentance  and  restoration  to  favor  took  place 
while  they  were  yet  in  their  nakedness  before  the 
Lord.  This,  too,  agrees  with  the  scripture,  which 
says,  "God  justifieth  the  ungodly,"  and  "When  I 
passed  by  thee  and  saw  thee  polluted — I  said  unto 
thee,  Live;  yea  I  said  unto  thee  when  thou  wast  in 
thy  blood,  Live."  Then  came  the  seal  of  their 
redemption.  Their  nakedness  was  clothed.  Their 
shame  was  taken  away.  "Unto  the  man  and  to  his 
wife  did  the  Lord  God  make  coats  of  skin  and 
clothed  them."  We  leave  to  the  reader  to  trace  the 
rich  vein  of  doctrine  figured  in  this  act.  We  simply 
take  it  now  as  a  sign  of  the  Lord's  pity  in  their 
immediate  need  and  distress;  so  like  him  in  the 
flesh,  when  he  went  about  doing  good,  healing  all 
that  were  oppressed  of  the  devil.  They  must, 
indeed,  abide  the  natural  consequences  of  their 
transgression,  as  David  did,  and  as  all  must  do  who 
sin,  though  forgiven ;  they  must  submit  to  the  dis- 
cipline of  sorrow,  conflict,  and  toil,  till  the  end 
should  come.  But  they  would  not  now  go  forth  in 
their  nakedness  and  shame,  but  with  the  sweet  con- 
sciousness that  the  very  clothes  which  they  wore, 
put  on  them  by  his  loving,  careful  hands,  were  a 
pledge  of  his  continued  pity  and  support,  whatever 
might  befall. 


THE    SETTLEMENT   OF   THE   SAVIOR'S 

GENEALOGY. 

When   Enos,   third    from   Adam,    inclusive,    was 
born,  the  Savior's  genealogy  began  to  be  written  in 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


49 


a  book  called  the  Book  of  the  generations  of  Adam. 
At  the  head  of  the  line  is  Adam,  tlien  Seth,  then 
Enos,  the  succession  continuing  unbroken  till  the 
Savior  appeared.  There  is  a  transcript  of  the  list 
in  the  first  book  of  Chronicles.  Matthew  (quotes  it 
in  the  beginning  of  his  Gospel  with  the  words  here 
written,  "The  Book  of  the  generation,"  substituting 
Jesus  Christ  for  Adam.  Writing  for  the  Jews  he 
goes  no  higher  than  David  and  Abraham,  thus 
showing  that  Jesus  was  legal  heir  to  David  through 
Joseph,  his  reputed  father.  Luke  gives  the  geneal- 
ogy in  another  line,  that  of  Mary,  tracing  the 
descent  through  David's  son,  Nathan,  instead  of 
Solomon,  above  which  it  coalesces  with  that  quoted 
by  Matthew,  showing  our  Lord's  descent  from  the 
woman,  and  from  Adam,  through  the  elect  line  of 
which  Adam  was  the  head. 

The  words  accompanying  the  introduction  of  this 
bock  into  the  narrative  are  so  remarkable  that  we 
will  quote  the  passage. 

"This  is  the  book  of  the  generations  of  Adam. 
In  the  day  that  God  created  Adam,  in  the  likeness 
of  God  made  he  him ;  male  and  female  created  he 
them;  and  blessed  them,  and  called  their  name 
Adam,  in  the  day  when  they  were  created." 

Observe  first  that  the  book  is  called  the  book  of 
the  generations  of  Adam,  and  not  of  "the  man,"  as 
he  was  constantly  spoken  of  in  the  garden.  Next, 
this  is  not  a  new  or  independent  statement  of  the 
creation  of  man,  but  a  reference,  corresponding  in 
every  particular,  to  the  account  already  given  in 
the  first  chapter,  which  says  that  in  creating  Adam 
male  and  female,  he  gave  them  one  name.  "Let 
us  make  Adam  in  our  image,  in  our  likeness,  and 


i 


50 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


if'' 


let  THEM  have  dominion.  "  This  shows  that  there  is 
no  difference  between  the  man  and  the  woman  in 
their  original,  that  is  their  spiritual,  personality; 
but,  as  male  and  female,  there  is  a  difference, 
namely,  of  subordination.  "He  shall  rule  over 
thee."  Thus,  while  the  apostle  teaches  that  the 
woman  must  be  in  subjection  to  the  man,  he  also 
teaches,  evidently  with  this  passage  in  his  mind,  that 
in  Christ  Jesus  there  is  neither  male  nor  female. 
Adam,  the  natural  head  of  the  whole  human  family, 
is,  in  this  book,  separated  from  men,  and  placed  at 
the  head  of  a  chosen  line  to  end  in  Christ,  who, 
being  the  chosen  seed,  and  Adam's  antitype,  spoke 
of  himself  as  the  Son  of  man. 

It  will  not,  I  hope,  be  deemed  unimportant  to 
enlarge  somewhat  on  the  difference  made  in  this 
history  between  the  spiritual  and  carnal  in  the  crea- 
tion of  man.  As  they  are  distinct  in  their  nature, 
so  are  they  in  their  making.  In  the  first  chapter 
God  created  man  in  his  own  image.  That  is, 
Adam,  a  spirit,  as  God  is  a  spirit.  In  the  second, 
"he  formed  the  man  dust  of  the  ground."  That  is, 
man  in  the  body.  Notice  the  elegance  and  appro- 
priateness of  this  new  word,  "formed."  Not  made 
or  created,  which  is  general,  but  "formed,"  which 
is  special.  As  a  potter  forms  objects  of  clay,  so  the 
Lord  God  formed  the  man  in  his  earthly  part.  The 
same  term  is  used  concerning  the  making  of  the 
beasts.  This  is  only  an  analogy,  and  must  be  con- 
strued according  to  the  nature  of  the  subject.  The 
notion  that  man  was  formed  at  once  in  complete 
manhood,  with  his  parts  pieced  together,  so  that  at 
one  stage  you  might  see  a  part  of  the  man,  and  in 
due  course  the  whole,  is  unnatural.     As  God  is  a 


S^, 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


51 


•'As  thou 
how  the 


spirit  he  formed  the  body  by  spiritual  operation  and 
power.  When  Christ  said,  "A  body  hast  thou  pre- 
pared me,"  his  body  certainly  was  not  formed  in 
this  manner.  There  are  true  science  and  spiritual 
insight  in  the  description  in  Eccl.  11:5: 
knowest  not  the  way  of  the  spirit,  nor 
bones  do  grow  in  the  womb  of  her  that  is  with 
child,  even  so  thou  knowest  not  the  works  of  God 
who  maketh  all."  The  bodies  of  all  living  crea- 
tures 'i-re  formed  by  spiritual  power,  though  we 
know  not  how  it  is  done.  For  all  power  in  nature 
is  spiritual  or  immaterial.  In  this  way  we  speak  of 
natural  forces.  The  power  is  not  in  the  hammer 
which  strikes  a  blow,  nor  in  the  arm  that  wields  it. 
The  power  is  not  in  the  mountain  slide.  It  is  not 
in  the  plant  which  forces  itself  through  the  soil,  nor 
in  the  tree  which  rears  its  massive  bulk  into  the 
„'".  It  is  not  in  the  infant  when  it  takes  on  the 
human  form  in  the  mother's  womb,  nor  in  the  man 
who  walks  and  leaps  and  runs.  As  all  move  by  a 
power  which  is  not  of  themselves,  and  mature  by  a 
process  which  we  call  growth,  we  cannot  err  in 
ascribing  both  the  power  and  the  process  to  the 
formation  of  the  first  man.  Whatever  be  the  forces 
which  come  between,  the  scripture  teaches  that  the 
power  of  God  is  outside  all.  Wherefore  it  says 
again,  "In  him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being."  Though  there  was,  of  necessity,  no  par- 
ent, God,  who  made  all  things,  is  not  subject  to 
conditions.  He  who  turned  the  rod  into  a  serpent 
without  the  process  of  generation,  and  multiplied  the 
loaves  without  the  assistance  of  the  plowman  or  the 
baker,  may  be  credited  with  ability  to  mold  the  first 
man  dust  of  the  ground. 


52 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


i|ii 


!ti 


It  may  help  to  remove  a  difficulty,  as  well  as  to 
show  the  consistency  of  the  narrative  with  itself  in 
all  its  parts,  if  we  observe  further  that  the  man  was 
formed  in  his  bodily  part  by  the  Lord  God,  that  is, 
the  Son  of  God,  who,  in  the  first  chapter,  was  said 
to  be  only  taken  into  Counsel  in  man's  creation. 
That  creation  referred  to  his  spirit,  as  made  in  the 
image  of  God.  But  in  the  making  of  his  body,  he 
returned  to  his  original  task,  that  of  making  all 
things  by  command.  As  he  had  formed  every  beast 
of  the  earth  out  of  the  ground,  so  he  formed  man,  in 
his  bodily  part,  out  of  the  ground.  Thus  there  were 
two  distinct  processes;  but  we  need  not  therefore 
suppose  an  interval  of  time  between  them,  any  more 
than  in  the  formation  of  the  serpent  out  of  the  rod 
in  Moses'  hand.  According  to  analogy,  which, 
rightly  used,  is  the  most  valuable  attribute  of 
science,  the  spirit  of  the  beast  must  have  been  made 
first,  then  its  sinuous  body,  but  all  in  a  moment  of 
time.  Or  to  take  the  greater  example  of  God's 
work  in  the  last  day,  when  the  bodies  of  all  the 
saints  will  be  changed  in  a  moment,  in  the  twink- 
ling of  an  eye ;  we  see  that  we  cannot  understand 
the  scriptures  at  all,  nor  reason  upon  them  aright, 
unless  we  take  it  as  their  fundamental  all-pervading 
truth  that  all  things  are  possible  with  God.  Al- 
though then  there  were  Vvo  distinct  processes  in 
the  making  of  men,  they  are  not  separate  in  time. 
That  they  are  so  in  the  narrative  is  most  appropri- 
ate, seeing  that  the  making  of  the  body  was  the 
beginning  of  man's  actual  career  on  the  earth. 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


53 


EVANGELICAL   WORSHIP   INSTITUTED. 

But  not  only  was  the  settlement  of  the  genealogy 
marked  by  its  entry  in  a  book,  but  there  was  made 
at  the  same  time  a  change  in  worship.  This  is  what 
we  read.  "Then" — when  Enos,  vSeth's  elect  son, 
was  born — "began  calling  upon  the  name  of  the 
Lord."  It  is  evident  that  thus  far  God  had  contin- 
ued to  speak  with  men,  as  he  had  spoken  with  them 
in  the  garden,  face  to  face.  Thus  he  spoke  with 
Cain.  The  time  was  now  come  when  the  righteous 
should  walk  by  faith  and  not  by  sight:  calling  upon 
God  as  invisible  but  ever  nigh.  We  say  the  right- 
eous, for  this  is  spoken  not  of  mankind  at  large,  but 
of  the  family  which  was  separated  from  them.  It 
is  not  easy  to  see  why  the  revisers  retained  the 
word  "men"  in  this  passage.  The  literal  translation 
is  th^s:  "Then  was  begun  [Ges.]  calling  upon  the 
name  of  Jehovah."  "Then" — the  word  is  em- 
phatic— when  Enos  was  born,  and  the  line  settled 
preparatory  to  its  being  written  in  a  book,  the 
change  was  made. 

There  is  evidently  implied  in  this  mode  of  wor- 
ship the  possession  of  a  revelation  which  distin- 
guished the  chosen  family  from  the  outcast  posterity 
of  Cain.  It  was  the  formal  beginning  of  the  Church 
of  God,  whose  distinctive  character  is  the  worhsip 
of  Jehovah,  or  of  the  invisible  God  through  Jeho- 
vah; a  church,  visibly  organized,  its  headship,  not 
the  result  of  a  human  expedient,  but  of  divine  order- 
ing. At  first  the  temporal  and  the  spiritual  were 
indistinguishable  by  name.  The  head  of  the  family 
was  not  always  or  necessarily  the  eldest;  he  might 
be  deposed  or  superseded  for  misconduct,  as  in  the 


54 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


cases  of  Reuben  and  Esau.  The  rarity  of  such 
exceptions  is  a  tacit  proof  that  the  heads  of  the 
elect  line  were,  as  a  rule,  godly  men.  When  the 
chosen  people  became  a  nation,  a  distinction  was 
made  between  the  birthright  line,  implying  tem- 
poral ascendency,  and  the  genealogy  which  was  to 
end  in  Christ,  the  latter  being  limited  to  Judah,  of 
whom  it  was  said,  "came  the  chief  Ruler"  ;  and  it 
was  expressly  provided  that  the  genealogy  in  this 
its  evangelical  sense  was  not  to  be  "reckoned  after 
the  birthright." 

I  think  it  will  be  evident  to  the  reader,  first,  that, 
seeing  the  essential  importance  of  the  settlement  of 
this  line  to  the  excellence  and  purity  of  the  church, 
the  provision  of  a  book  that  should  obviate  all  dis- 
pute as  to  the  succession  was  natural  and  necessary; 
and,  secondly,  that  this  early  history  is  not  a  frag- 
mentary, arbitrary,  production,  but  a  record  of  the 
divine  care  that  all  things  should  be  so  ordered  as  to 
keep  alive  in  the  minds  of  men  the  promise  of  a 
Redeemer  who  was  in  due  time  to  appear. 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  WORLD. 

The  order  of  inheritance  and  worship  being  thus 
settled,  the  separation,  begun  in  the  banishment  of 
Cain,  became  something  more  than  local.  It  was 
the  separation  of  the  church  from  the  world.  There 
was  no  visible  barrier  set  up.  Only  faith  and  con- 
science keep  the  godly  from  falling.  Intercourse 
with  the  world  was  not  forbidden,  only  conformity 
to  the  world.  Religion  is  of  the  will,  and  not  of 
compulsion.  This  liberty  was  soon  turned  to  licen- 
tiousness. Relations  between  the  two  divisions  of 
mankind  became  more  and  more  intimate,  until  at 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


55 


length  they  issued  in  the  closest  of  all  ties.  The 
"sons  of  God"  intermarried  with  the  "daughters  of 
men";  the  followers  of  Jehovah  with  the  descend- 
ants of  Cain.  As  strange  interpretations  have  been 
made  of  this  statement,  let  us  observe  that  in  scrip- 
ture, people  in  the  church  are  often  spoken  of  as 
what  they  ought  to  be,  rather  than  what  they  are. 
Thus  our  Lord,  referring  to  the  disobedient  in 
Israel,  spoke  of  them  as  still  "children  of  the  king- 
dom." That  those  faithless  professors  in  the  ante- 
diluvian world  were  still  called  the  "sons  of  God," 
is  proof  that  they  still  held  their  profession  as 
followers  of  Jehovah.  The  descendants  of  Cain, 
with  equal  appropriateness  were  styled  "daughters 
of  men,"  seeing  that  they  had  no  part  in  the  inher- 
itance, but  were  reckoned  simply  according  to  their 
natural  descent. 

Following  one  of  the  principles  of  interpretation 
— and  they  are  not  a  few — laid  down  by  the  Apos- 
tles for  the  guidance  of  students  of  scripture,  that 
"no  prophecy  of  scripture  is  of  private,"  or  its  own, 
"interpretation,"  we  may,  I  think,  be  enabled  to 
perceive  that  it  is  the  purpose  of  this  history  to 
make  plain  how  the  family  of  Jehovists — that  is, 
the  church — became  worldly.  When  the  apostle 
says  "private  interpretation,"  he  certainly  means 
that  no  scripture  is  to  be  restricted  to  its  "own" 
literal  sense  and  application.  Though  the  letter  has 
its  "own"  true  meaning,  there  lies  behind  it  some 
spiritual  meaning,  some  divine  purpose  of  deeper 
import.  This  rule,  like  many  others,  may  be  pushed 
to  an  unreasoning,  not  to  say  fanciful,  extreme, 
which  the  expert  student  will  wisely  avoid.  Now, 
when  the  Apostle  Paul,  quoted  the  law  of  Moses,  as 


56 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


ii!!!! 


saying,  "Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox  which  tread- 
eth  out  the  corn,"  and  added,  "Doth  Cod  care  for 
oxen,"  he  assuredly  did  not  mean  to  rob  the  precept 
of  its  "own"  proper  significance,  as  if  God  did  not 
care  for  all  the  creatures  which  he  had  made,  but 
that  the  precept,  besides  its  "own"  proper  applica- 
tion, contained  also  a  hidden  reference  to  spiritual 
things;  and  these  are  ever  the  paramount  consider- 
ation. Numerous  other  instances  to  the  same  effect, 
found  in  the  apostle's  writings,  must  be  left  to  the 
reader's  own  research.  What  we  are  concerned 
with  now  is  the  application  of  the  rule  to  the  present 
history  of  the  people's  degeneration.  I  think  the 
question  here,  too,  may  be  asked,  "doth  God  care" 
for  the  fading  beauty  of  the  maidens,  the  harps 
and  organs  of  the  musicians,  the  works  of  the 
artificers  in  brass  and  iron,  and  the  luxuries  of 
human  abodes,  spoken  of  the  descendants  of  Cain? 
Does  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  ordering  the  affairs  of  his 
eternal  kingdom,  descend  to  these  earthly  incidents, 
were  it  not  to  turn  them  to  a  spiritual  pu  nose,  and 
show  how  his  people  became  ensnared  to  worldli- 
ness,  drawn  away  and  fascinated  by  the  excellent 
superiority  of  the  family  of  Cain  in  arts,  accom- 
plishments, luxury,  and  carnal  beauty?  Not  for  any 
evil  in  the  things  themselves,  for  Jesus  was  a  car- 
penter, David  a  musician,  Bezaleel  and  Aholiab 
inspired  artificers;  but  evil  in  their  tendency  to 
supersede  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  men's  affections; 
inciting  to  evil  passions,  provocative  of  contentions 
and  violence,  and  so  ending  in  that  condition  of 
imgodliness,  in  this  narrative  so  forcibly  described, 
which  is  imquestionably  visible  in  all  ages  of  the 
church,  and  in  none  more  than  in  our  own  times. 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


57 


The  faith  which  alone  kept  any  faithful  and  true — 
and  that  period  is  not  devoid  of  bright  examples 
— became  well-nigh  extinct,  even  as  our  Lord  inti- 
mated that  it  would  become  all  but  extinct  in  the 
latter  days.  It  were  instructive  to  pursue  the 
parallel.  No  miracle  or  sign  from  heaven,  no  fresh 
revelation,  was  given  then  any  more  than  now, 
while  then  even  as  now,  the  spirit  of  God  strove 
with  men  ready  to  help  the  sincere  to  a  godly  life. 
The  saved  were  saved  not  by  the  church  but  by 
their  faith.  The  church,  in  its  visible  form,  had 
become,  as  now,  to  an  almost  universal  extent 
indistinguishable  from  the  world,  a  barren  formal 
worship  without  effect  upon  the  life  alone  remain- 
ing, the  sons  of  God  having,  indeed,  a  form  of 
godliness,  but  denying  the  power  thereof.  Their 
defection  was  not  from  ordinances,  but  from  godli- 
ness, and  is  thus  summed  up:  "All  flesh  had 
corrupted  its  way  upon  the  earth." 


II 


THE   FLOOD. 

To  this  state  of  corruption  our  Lord  referred  when 
he  said,  "The  flood  came  and  took  them  all  away." 
Two  questions  arise  here.  Did  judgment  come 
upon  them  without  warning  and  opportunity  of 
repentance?     If  they  repented  did  they  all  perish? 

We  naturally  refer  to  the  interpretation  of  the 
apostle  Peter,  who  writes  much  of  the  flood  in  both 
his  epistles. 

It  is  important  to  observe  here  that  both  our  Lord 
and  his  apostles  spoke  not  only  as  preachers,  but  as 
interpreters.  They  not  only  spoke  the  word,  but 
showed  its  meaning.     Thus    Jesus,    in   answer  to 


58 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


doubters,  did  not  arbitrarily  declare  that  the  dead 
would  rise,  but  showed  it  to  be  the  teaching  of  the 
scriptures  that  they  must  rise.  So  we  must  imder- 
stand  the  apostle's  statements  in  this  passage,  not 
as  arbitrarily  made,  but  as  just  inferences  from  the 
narrative  itself.  To  the  narrative  therefore  we 
must  have  recourse  if  we  would  understand  the 
writer's  meaning.  When,  for  instance,  the  apostle 
refers  to  Noah  as  a  preacher  of  righteousness,  we 
must  understand  him  as  inferring  this  from  the  nar- 
rative itself.  And  I  think  we  find  this  to  be  the 
case.  This  is  what  we  read.  "The  Lord  said.  My 
spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with  man  for  that  he  is 
also  flesh;  yet  his  days  shall  be  a  hundred  and 
twenty  years."  The  natural  implication  is  that 
though  "not  always,"  yet  for  this  period,  he  would 
strive  with  them:  and  so  give  them  opportunity  for 
repentance. 

Now  the  spirit  strives  with  men  by  his  zvord,  and 
if  God  strove  with  the  antediluvians  by  his  word, 
there  must  have  been  one  to  declare  it;  as  the 
apostle  said  concerning  the  world  at  large;  "How 
shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher?"  And  who 
should  the  preacher  be  in  the  present  case  but 
Noah,  to  whom  God  said,  "Thee  have  I  seen  right- 
eous before  me  in  this  generation."  Noah  was  a 
prophet,  and  the  spirit  of  God  spoke  by  the  prophets. 
God  revealed  to  Noah  all  that  he  purposed  to  do, 
and  gave  him  command  as  to  what  he  himself  should 
do  to  keep  alive  a  remnant.  If  then  there  was  a 
preacher,  as  of  necessity  there  must  have  been,  it 
could  be  none  other  than  Noah.  It  follows,  then, 
that  for  the  space  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  years 
men,   through   his   preaching,   had   opportunity  of 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


59 


repentance.  And  with  this  the  apostle's  words 
agree  when  he  said  that  "the  long-suffering  of  God 
WAITED  in  the  days  of  Noah  while  the  ark  was  a 
preparing."  Now  that  what  God  waited  for  was 
man's  repentance,  is  also  the  apostle's  interpreta- 
tion. For,  afterwards,  referring  to  this  very  exam- 
ple, he  adds  this  reflection:  "God  is  long-suffering 
to  usward,  not  willing  that  any  should  perish,  but 
that  all  should  come  to  repentance."  We  may  be 
sure  then  that  Noah  did  not  preach  in  vain. 

And  now,  I  think,  the  apostle's  statement  that 
Christ  by  his  spirit  went  and  preached  to  the  ante- 
diluvians is  also  according  to  the  narrative:  which 
implies  that  it  was  by  his  spirit  that  Jehovah  strove 
with  the  disobedient  in  the  days  of  Noah.  All  true 
preaching  of  the  word  is  by  the  spirit  of  Christ. 
"He  that  heareth  you  heareth  me."  "I  will  give 
you  a  mouth  and  a  wisdom,"  which  none  shall  be 
able  to  resist.  And  Paul  said  to  some  who  doubted 
his  apostolic  authority,  "Since  ye  seek  a  proof  of 
Christ  speaking  in  me";  and  as  Jesus  said,  "I  am 
he  who  am  speaking  to  you,  from  the  beginning." 
It  was,  then,  Christ  in  the  spirit  who  preached  to  the 
disobedient  by  the  mouth  of  Noah. 

But,  says  the  apostle,  it  was  to  the  "spirits  in 
prison"  that  he  preached.  The  expression  is  pecul- 
iar, but  so  were  the  circumstances,  A  man,  uncon- 
scious of  the  judgment  of  law,  follows  his  evil  ways 
freely;  but  not  so  when  he  knows  that  judgment  is 
pronounced  iipon  him.  Thus  our  Lord  said  of  the 
Jews,  "If  I  had  not  come  and  spoken  unto  them, 
they  had  not  had  sin ;  but  now  they  have  no  cloak 
for  their  sin."  So,  until  judgment  was  declared, 
the  men  before  the  flood  followed  their  evil  ways 


Oo 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


Im  I 


111  III 


freely,  and  with  no  other  restraint  but  conscience; 
but  afterwards,  when  judgment  was  pronounced 
upon  them,  they  were  as  men  in  prison,  under  sen- 
tence of  death,  from  which  there  was  no  escape. 
Most  truly  and  literally  then  did  Christ  preach  to 
them  as  to  men  in  prison. 

But  further.  If  we  consider  that  the  salvation 
which  Noah  preached  was  not  salvation  from  the 
flood  but  from  the  wrath  of  God,  the  saying  that  he 
preached  to  their  spirits  becomes  very  significant. 
It  is  as  true  now  as  it  was  then.  The  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  is  not  salvation  from  death,  in  whatever 
form  it  may  come,  for  it  is  appointed  unto  all  men 
once  to  die  and  after  this  the  judgment;  of  which 
death  is  but  the  premonition.  That  which  comes 
after  death  is  "the  wrath  of  God  against  every  soul 
of  man  that  doethevil."  The  preaching  of  Noah, 
then,  was  not  an  appeal  to  men's  earthly  minds  to 
escape  death,  but  to  their  spirits  within  to  flee  from 
the  wrath  to  come.  This  is  no  strange  notion.  For 
there  is  nothing  that  men  will  not  do  when  this 
terror  seizes  upon  their  spirits,  no  sacrifice  that  they 
will  not  make,  to  propitiate  the  Deity,  and  insure 
themselves  against  his  wrath  in  the  state  which 
comes  after  death.  Thus  the  apostle,  wishing  to 
awaken  this  dread  by  a  severe  sentence  on  some 
who  were  disobedient,  said  that  this  was  done  that 
their  "spirit  might  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord 
Jesus." 

We  conclude,  then,  that  in  the  apostle's  view  the 
preaching  of  Noah  was  not  in  vain.  Obeying  God 
in  the  spirit,  men  live  though  they  die.  We  always 
think  thus  when  great  calamities  overtake  men  in 
common,  whether  by  land  or  sea,   in  peace  or  in 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


6i 


war.  Josiah  died  in  peace  with  God,  for  so  had 
God  promised,  yet  he  was  brought  home  a  bleeding 
corpse.  The  manner  or  time  of  death  is  of  little 
account;  to  be  at  peace  with  God  is  everything, 
whether  in  life  or  death.  And  to  this  agree  the 
words  of  the  apostle  when,  summing  up  the  long- 
suffering  of  God  in  waiting  for  men's  repentance 
before  the  flood,  he  added,  "For  this  cause  was  the 
Gospel  preached  to  them  that  are  dead,  that  they 
might  be  judged  according  to  men  in  the  flesh,  but 
live  according  to  God  in  the  spirit."  Although 
they  perished  by  the  same  judgment  which  fell 
upon  the  ungodly  as  to  their  bodies,  yet  repenting, 
they,  as  to  their  spirits,  lived  forever. 


TYPE  OF  THE  JUDGMENT  TO  COME. 

The  reader  will  scarcely  need  to  be  reminded  of 
the  truthfthat  the  flood  was  a  type  or  forecast  of  the 
judgment  to  come  upon  all  mankind,  j  As  judgment 
was  first  proclaimed,  then  mercy,  so  was  it  in  the 
days  of  Christ.  First,  John  came  warning  men  to 
flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  for  that  the  Judge 
would  burn  up  the  chaff  with  unquenchable  fire. 
Then  Jesus  came  preaching  mercy,  exhorting  and 
commanding  men  to  repent  and  believe  the  Gospel. 
And  as  in  the  preaching  of  Noah,  so  in  the  preach- 
ing of  Christ,  the  condition  of  the  world  was 
changed.  When  the  judgment  of  the  last  day  was 
proclaimed,  men  became  accountable  to  God  in  a 
way  they  had  not  been  accountable  before.  The 
apostle  makes  this  very  plain.  "The  times  of  this 
ignorance  God  winked  at;  but  now  commandeth 
all   men  every  where  to  repent;    because  he  hath 


w 


62 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


appointed  a  day,  in  the  which  he  will  judge  the 
world  in  righteousness  by  that  man  whom  he  hath 
ordained;  whereof  he  has  given  assurance  unto  all 
men,  in  that  he  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead. "  All 
who  have  heard  the  Gospel  are  in  this  condition.  The 
word  of  the  Lord  confirms  it.  "He  that  believeth  not 
is  condeir.ned  already, "  and  why?  "Because  he  hath 
not  believed  in  the  name  of  the  only  begotten  Son 
of  God,"  though  it  has  been  preached  to  him.  To 
prisoners  of  judgment — that  is  all  who  have  heard 
and  not  obeyed — mercy  is  still  proclaimed.  The 
spirit  strives  with  them  through  the  word  preached, 
urging  them  to  embrace  the  proffered  mercy.  As 
with  the  antediluvians,  so  with  the  world  at  large, 
the  long-suffering  of  God  waits  to  give  them  oppor- 
tunity of  repentance.  How  long  he  will  wait  is  not 
revealed.  The  day  is  fixed,  but  it  is  always  true,  as 
the  apostle  says,  that  he  is  ready  to  judge  the  living 
and  the  dead.  As  the  flood  came  at  last,  so  will  the 
great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord.  The  flood  came 
only  upon  the  world  of  the  ungodly,  but  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  which  are  now  will  be  consumed  in 
the  final  conflagration.  The  apostle  who  declares 
this  is  careful  to  say  that  all  is  according  to  the  word 
of  the  Lord.  The  word  which  declared  the  flood 
by  the  mouth  of  Noah,  the  same  word  declares  the 
destruction  of  the  world  by  the  mouth  of  Jesus  and 
his  apostles.  And  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass 
away,  said  the  Lord,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass 
away.  Observe  the  unity  of  the  scriptures.  One 
thing  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  Even  to  bring 
men  back  to  God.  Jesus  gave  himself  for  our  sins, 
the  just  for  the  unjust,  that  he  might  bring  us  to 
God.     One  thing  also  in  this,  that  there  is  a  day  of 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


63 


judgment  and  perdition  for  those  who  obey  not  the 
Gospel.  The  wrath  of  God  is  revealed  from  heaven 
against  all  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness  of  men. 

When  Noah  and  his  family  came  out  of  the  ark, 
it  was  a  new  departure  for  the  family  of  mankind. 
The  w^orld  began  again  with  eight  persons.  This 
one  family,  from  which  the  multitudes  that  now 
inhabit  the  earth  derive  their  existence,  began  their 
new  life  under  favorable  auspices,  with  every  motive 
of  fear  and  love  to  urge  them  to  a  better  course. 
They  all  knew  God.  They  had  seen  his  wrath  and 
were  spared.  They  had  lived  through  the  "p  :Aod 
while  the  ark  was  preparing.  They  had  heard  their 
father's  preaching,  warning  mankind  of  the  impend- 
ing judgment.  They  had  had  the  benefit  of  his 
example,  his  upright  life,  his  communion  with  God. 
When  they  came  forth  from  the  gloom  of  the  ark 
into  the  light  of  day  again,  the  hour  of  deliverance 
was  to  them  an  hour  of  gratitude  and  praise.  The 
solemn  sacrifice  was  as  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 
The  Lord  smelled  a  sweet  savor;  the  savor  of  a 
sacrifice  better  than  the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats. 
His  promise,  symbolized  by  the  bow  in  the  cloud, 
was  as  replete  with  hope,  as  the  flood  had  been  of 
terror  and  awe.  Should  a  cloud  obscure  their  light, 
it  should  be  to  them  a  reminder  that  he  would  not 
leave  them  nor  forsake  them.  "While  the  earth 
'  emaineth,  seed  time  and  harvest,  and  cold  and 
heat,  and  summer  and  winter,  and  day  and  night, 
shall  not  cease." 

Thus  was  man  again  put  upon  his  probation,  to 
see  what  was  in  his  heart,  whether,  after  instruc- 
tions, warnings,  and  encouragements,  so  plentifully 
vouchsafed,  he  would  now  fear  God,  or  go  on  his 


64 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


wilful  way  as  his  fathers  had  done.  A  more  hope- 
ful method  of  testing  the  power  of  human  nature  to 
do  well  .nnot  be  conceived.  If  the  old  world's 
departure  from  righteousness  had  proceeded  from 
unhappy  influences  of  bad  example,  and  not  from 
innate  corruption,  they  had  now  the  most  favorable 
opportunity  of  proving  it  by  a  better  life.  The 
probation  was  not, for  God's  information,  but  for 
man's  conviction,  i  For  when  God  promised  not  to 
destroy  them  again  with  a  flood,  he  at  the  same 
time  declared  that  his  forbearance  would  not  cure 
their  disobedience,  for  that  the  imagination  of  man's 


heart  was  evil  from  his  youth. 


\ 


PARTITION   OF   THE    EARTH. 

The  building  of  the  tower  of  Babel,  with  its  con- 
sequences was  evidently  to  the  historian — Moses,  as 
we  hope  to  show  by  and  by — who  wrote  after  the 
land  of  Canaan  and  other  parts  of  the  earth  were 
settled  by  the  descendants  of  Noah,  an  event  of  so 
much  importance  that  he  prefaces  the  brief  contem- 
porary chronicle  which  narrates  it  with  a  synopsis 
very  needful  to  its  understanding.  Gen.  x.  He 
shows  how  the  earth  was  divided  after  the  flood 
among  the  families  of  Noah's  sons,  of  whose  de- 
scendants, in  the  general  sense,  he  gives  a  compre- 
hensive account.  He  makes  particular  mention  of 
Nimrod,  of  the  family  of  Ham,  the  founder  of 
Babylon,  who,  notwithstanding  the  check  which  the 
confusion  of  tongues  imposed  on  his  ambitious 
designs,  eventually  succeeded  in  establishing  a 
powerful  kingdom. 

He  makes  a  remarkably  suggestive  statement  con- 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


65 


[e 
)d 

le- 
re- 
of 
lof 
le 
lus 


In- 


cerning  Shem,  who  succeeded  Noah  as  head  of  the 
Jehovah  line.  He  calls  him  the  "father  of  all  the 
children  of  Eber. "  Looking  to  the  genealogy,  we 
find  that  Eber  was  foiirth  (inclusive)  in  descent 
from  Shem.  Shem  had  several  other  sons  besides 
Arphaxad,  from  whom  Eber  descended,  but  of 
none  of  them  is  he  called  the  father.  The  state- 
ment is  precisely  similar  to  that  which  was  made 
concerning  the  "generations  of  Adam."  Adam 
had  other  sons,  but  he  was  father  to  none  of  them 
but  to  the  descendants  of  Seth.  It  is  important  to 
notice  this  feature  in  the  genealogical  record.  The 
line  which  was  to  terminate  in  the  promised  Deliv- 
erer was  always  kept  distinct  from  the  world. 
There  must,  then,  be  something  very  notable  in 
Eber's  personality,  as  known  to  the  future  histo- 
rian, that  he  should  become  in  his  own  person  the 
head,  or  forerunner,  of  an  elect  posterity,  known 
afterwards  as  Eberites  or  Hebrews,  not  as  inter- 
rupting the  line,  but  as  imparting  to  it  a  new  char- 
acter of  development.  And  let  it  be  observed,  that 
development  is  the  character  of  God's  dealings  with 
men  from  Adam  to  Christ.  Whilu  in  the  geneal- 
ogy, supplied  by  the  contemporary  chronicle, 
nothing  is  said  of  Eber  more  than  of  the  others,  the 
historian  adds  this  important  fact.  "Unto  Eber," 
he  says,  "were  born  two  sons;  the  name  of  one  was 
Peleg  (division)  for  in  his  days  the  earth  was 
divided,  and  the  name  of  the  other  was  Joktan." 
Here,  then,  is  a  notable  fact  recorded  of  Eber, 
namely,  that  he  commemorated  the  partition  of  the 
earth  by  naming  his  son  after  that  event.  The 
just  inference  is  that  he  took  a  conspicuous  part  in 
that   transaction.      In  purely  secular   history  this 


« 

1 

ll 

1 

T 

r 

i 

1 

' 

1 
1  ' . 

is  ' 


66 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


would  surely  be  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course. 
From  the  chronicles  we  may  infer  that  it  was  a  just 
and  honorable  and  godly  part  that  he  took  therein, 
a  part  worthy  of  the  followers  of  Jehovah,  of  whom 
he  was  head.  Shem  was  a  man  of  singularly  pure 
character;  he  earned  his  father's  blessing  by  his 
:onduct  on  a  particular  occasion,  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  Ham  earned  his  curse.  This  is  what 
the  chronicle  says  of  the  prophetic  words  of  Noah. 
'Cursed  be  Canaan;  a  servant  of  servants  shall  he 
be  unto  his  brethren.  And  he  said.  Blessed  be  the 
Lord  God  of  Shem;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  serv- 
ant. God  shall  enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell 
in  the  tents  of  Shem;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  serv- 
ant." Canaan  was  the  son  of  Ham;  and  the  sever- 
ity of  the  sentence  which  Noah  passed  on  his 
younger  son  is  more  deeply  marked  by  transferring 
it  to  his  posterity,  thr'  ugh  Canaan,  who,  according 
to  all  subsequent  history,  exceeded  their  progenitor 
in  vileness.  But  to  apply  both  the  chronicle  and 
the  history  to  Eber.  Shem,  inheritor  of  his  father's 
blessing  and  successor  to  the  headship,  adopted 
Eber  and  his  descendants  as  his  own  children,  and 
set  his  seal  to  their  inheritance  of  the  blessing.  If, 
as  is  not  improbable,  he  lived  to  be  contemporary 
with  Eber,  it  might  well  be  that  in  the  part  which 
he  took  in  the  division  of  the  earth,  Eber  had  the 
advantage  of  the  counsel  of  his  godly  progenitor. 
And  if  Shem,  while  still  living,  adopted  Eber's 
children,  it  would  be  analogous  to  Jacob's  adopting 
the  sons  of  Joseph.  And  when  Noah  prophesied 
concerning  Japheth,  that  he  should  dwell  in  the  tents 
of  Shem,  the  idea  of  some  that  he  at  the  same  time 
instructed  Shem  concerning  the  ultimate  division  of 


I 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


67 


the  earth,  may  not  be  altogether  groundless.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  the  adoption  of  Eber's  descendants 
by  Shem  is  far-reaching.  Abraham  was  one  of 
these,  and  future  chroniclers  are  not  unmindful  of 
the  fact,  making  outsiders  speak  of  Abraham  as  the 
Hebrew  or  Eberite,  head  of  a  religious  family,  on 
which  Eber,  by  his  conduct  on  a  memorable  occa- 
sion, had  conferred  renown.  Isaac  and  Jacob  also, 
and  their  descendants  after  the  flesh,  in  short,  the 
whole  nation  of  Israel,  were  Hebrews  to  the  end. 
But  in  Abraham  there  was  a  new  departure.  In 
him  all  families  of  the  earth  were  to  be  blessed.  By 
virtue  of  this  promise  he  supplanted  Eber.  And  if, 
in  a  later  prophecy,  we  read  correctly  concerning 
Eber  that  he  also  should  "perish  forever,"  we  only 
see  what  was  in  fact  true  concerning  his  posterity 
after  the  flesh.  Thus  we  see  ever  two  lines  of 
descent,  one  after  the  flesh,  one  after  the  spirit. 
Two  lines  from  Adam.  Two  lines  from  Shem. 
Two  lines  from  Abraham. 

DEFECTION    OF    THE    HAMITES    AND 

BUILDING   OF   THE   TOWER 

OF   BABEL. 

To  return  to  Eber  and  his  share  in  the  partition 
of  the  earth.  To  have  the  subject  fully  before  us 
we  will  quote  the  contemporary  chronicle. 

"And  the  whole  earth  was  of  one  language  and  of 
one  speech.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  they  journeyed 
from  the  east,  that  they  found  a  plain  in  the  land  of 
Shinar;  and  they  dwelt  there.  And  they  said  one 
to  another,  Go  to,  let  us  make  brick  and  burn  them 
thoroughly.     And  they  had  brick   for  stone,    and 


68 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


slime  had  they  for  mortar.  And  they  said,  Go  to, 
let  us  build  a  city  and  a  tower,  whose  top  may  reach 
unto  heaven;  and  let  us  make  us  a  name,  lest  we  be 
scattered  abroad  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth. 
And  the  Lord  came  down  to  see  the  city  and  the 
tower,  which  the  children  of  men  builded.  And  the 
Lord  said.  Behold,  the  people  is  one,  and  they  have 
all  one  language;  and  this  they  begin  to  do,  and 
now  nothing  will  be  restrained  from  them,  which 
they  have  imagined  to  do.  Go  to,  let  us  go  down, 
and  there  confound  their  language,  that  they  may 
not  understand  one  another's  speech.  So  the  Lord 
scattered  them  abroad  from  thence  upon  the  face  of 
all  the  earth;  and  they  left  off  to  build  the  city. 
Therefore  is  the  name  of  it  called  Babel;  because 
the  Lord  did  there  confound  the  language  of  all  the 
earth ;  and  from  thence  did  the  Lord  scatter  them 
abroad  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth." 

It  might  seem  from  a  supeiiicial  glance  at  this 
account,  taken  by  itself,  that  the  whcl3  human 
family,  journeying  together,  were  alike  implicated 
in  the  impious  design  here  narrated,  namely  the 
building  of  a  tower  to  rival  heaven.  A  closer  view, 
— taking  it  in  connection  with  the  preceding  com- 
ments of  the  historian  who  transcribed  it, — will,  I 
think,  render  this  interpretation  inadmissible,  and 
show,  what  is  very  frequent  in  scripture,  that  the 
subject  of  the  first  statement,  "the  whole  earth,"  is 
not  the  subject  of  the  second,  the  builders  of  the 
tower.  There  is  a  gaj  between,  and  how  to  fill  it 
must  be  determined  by  consideration  of  all  the  cir- 
cumstances. 

From  the  nature  of  the  case  it  is  not  probable  that 
the  three  families,  with  all  the  earth  to  choose  from, 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


69 


would  keep  together  long;  certainly  not  for  a  period 
of  probably  hardly  less  than  four  hundred  years; 
while  each  family  would  in  the  main,  for  safety  and 
convenience,  deem  it  prudent  to  avoid  scattering. 
The  avowed  purpose  of  the  builders  to  make  them- 
selves a  name,  would  have  little  significance  it  the 
whole  race  were  concerned  in  the  design,  for  who 
then  would  there  be  to  admire  their  renown?  But 
such  a  purpose  would  well  agree  with  the  character 
of  Nimrod,  leader  of  the  tribe  of  Ham,  if,  from  any 
cause,  he  were  jealous  of  the  other  families,  or 
desired  to  attain  supremacy  over  them.  It  is  a 
matter  of  prime  concern  with  characters  of  this  sort 
to  keep  their  forces  united,  to  recall  wanderers,  to 
be  always  on  the  alert.  The  chronicle  implies  this 
care  on  the  part  of  the  builders  in  the  clearest  man- 
ner. Its  language  has  no  significance  except  as  it 
implies  the  presence  of  another  body  which  was 
certain  to  withstand  their  unfair  pretentions  and 
ambitious  designs.  What  so  likely  to  secure  the 
ascendency  they  aimed  at  as  to  gather  their  forces 
within  the  walls  of  a  city — no  novel  device,  as  the 
well-known  history  of  Cain  would  show — and  to 
build  a  tower  whose  grandeur  would  overawe  their 
opponents.  Within  these  walls  let  all  be  gathered. 
Let  stragglers  be  recalled ;  let  adherents  be  enticed, 
and  let  all  risk  of  a  dispersion  of  force  be  avoided. 
This  well  agrees  with  the  character  of  Nimrod,  and 
his  subsequent  career,  and  with  the  figurative  term 
by  which  he  is  characterized — "a  mighty  hunter 
before  the  Lord."  He  was  too  busy  with  his 
schemes  of  ambition  to  hunt  wild  beaSts,  a  concep- 
tion altogether  foreign  to  the  history.  But  that  he 
was  a  hunter  of  men,  is  beyond  all  contradiction. 


70 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


Assuming  the  accuracy  of  this  conclusion,  the 
question  arises  when  did  the  Hamites,  under  their 
enterprising  leader,  inaugurate  this  device?  I  think 
we  have  ample  materials  to  fill  up  the  gap  which 
the  chronicle  leaves.  Much  must  have  taken  place 
before  this  spirit  of  domination  came  to  a  head. 
The  clear  implication  that  Eber  took  a  leading  part 
in  the  ''division  of  the  earth"  suggests  the  circum- 
stances which  must  have  necessitated  such  a  trans- 
action. The  need  of  a  common  agreement  as  to 
ranges  for  the  several  families,  must  soon  have 
become  apparent.  Looking  to  the  case  of  Abraham 
and  Lot,  and  the  general  course  of  human  affairs  in 
analogous  circumstances,  it  was  natural,  and  even 
inevitable,  that  strifes  would  arise  among  them 
concerning  favorable  ranges  of  pasture  or  tracts 
for  settlement,  just  as,  in  our  day,  strifes  and  jeal- 
ousies arise  in  regard  to  what  are  called  spheres  of 
influence,  where  mercantile  interests  or  colonial 
enterprise  is  concerned.  Nothing  more  likely  than 
that,  in  view  of  these  dissensions,  a  family  meeting 
or  convention  should  be  held  to  bring  such  disputes 
to  an  amicable  termination.  The  proposal  would 
naturally  come  from  Eber,  just  as  in  later  times  a 
similar  proposal  came  from  Abraham.  Nowhere  in 
the  previous  history  of  the  followers  of  Jehovah  do 
"v'c  see  signs  of  ambition  among  them  after  world 
power.  From  what  has  been  said  of  the  character 
of  Shem  and  his  posterity  in  the  elect  line,  we  can- 
not conceive  their  taking  part  in  a  scheme  so  impi- 
ous as  that  which  occurred  in  the  plain  of  Shinar, 
while  to  seek  by  a  family  conference  to  put  a 
peaceful  end  to  all  dissensions  is  what  might  be 
justly  expected  of  them.     That  any  conference  to 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


71 


this  end  should  fall  into  two  parts  is  according  to  all 
history.  There  are  generally  the  peace-loving  and 
the  ambitious ;  some  greedy  and  grasping  and  over- 
reaching, and  others  resisting  unjust  and  imfair 
pretensions  The  world  is  full  of  such  experiences. 
In  the  partition  of  the  earth,  then,  the  main  con- 
tracting parties  would  be  the  family  of  Ham  and 
their  adherents  on  the  one  side,  and  the  family  of 
Shem  and  worshipers  of  Jehovah  and  their  adher- 
ents on  the  other.  The  case  is  precisely  analogous 
to  the  condition  of  the  human  family  after  Cain 
went  forth.  There  was  a  clear  line  of  distinction 
between  the  sons  of  God  and  the  daughters  of  men ; 
a  line  not  soon  obliterated.  The  climax  of  wicked- 
ness in  that  case  was  not  reached  till  the  lapse  of 
five  times  the  period  which  lay  between  the  flood 
and  the  dispersion.  There  is  no  sign  that  the  fol- 
lowers of  Jehovah  in  the  latter  short  period  of  time 
had  become  so  corrupted  as  to  join  in  any  scheme 
to  defy  heaven  and  Jehovah,  whose  name  was  their 
hope  and  trust. 

The  family  of  Shem,  moreover,  would  be  strength- 
ened by  the  family  of  Japheth.  We  can  conceive 
no  time  more  likely  for  the  fulfilment  of  Noah's 
prophecy  that  Japheth  should  dwell  in  the  tents  of 
Shem.  Thus  fortified  with  the  aid  of  the  godly  and 
well  disposed,  the  family  of  Shem,  under  Eber's 
conduct,  might  be  well  able  to  countervail  the 
designs  of  the  grasping  and  ambitious  Hamites  to 
get  more  than  their  share  of  the  vast  estate.  The 
division  of  the  earth  among  rival  claimants  has  a 
great  and  pretentious  sound,  but  in  this  case  only  in 
seeming;  for  in  fact  the  whole  earth  was  waiting  to 
oe  peopled,  and  there  were  only  these  three  fami- 


72 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


lies  to  people  it.  When  the  partition  of  a  particular 
district  or  estate  is  in  question,  as  in  the  case  of 
Abraham  and  Lot,  or  Mephibosheth  and  Ziba,  it  is 
the  land  that  is  divided.  Now  it  is  the  whole  earth. 
The  power  of  the  original  decree,  subjugating  the 
earth  to  man,  was  vested  in  these  three  families, 
and  there  was  none  to  dispute  their  right.  It  only 
remained  that  they  should  agree  among  themselves 
on  a  just  apportionment. 

If  the  Hamite  section,  under  Nimrod,  were  dis- 
contented with  the  result  of  the  conference, — and 
the  ambitious  are  never  contented  with  less  than  all 
or  the  best, — we  can  see  that  the  statement  that  the 
whole  earth  was  of  one  language  and  one  speech 
must  be  kept  distinct  from  the  statement  which 
relates  to  the  building  of  the  tower.  The  unity  of 
speech  was  a  circumstance  favorable  to  a  family 
conference,  and  therefore  a  natural  preface  to  the 
account.  A  common  decision  having  been  arrived 
at,  and  the  conference  broken  up,  the  families 
would  go  their  several  ways.  And  it  is  just  here 
that  the  chronicle  takes  up  the  record,  and  concen- 
trates itself  on  the  doings  of  the  discontented  family 
of  Ham.  **As  they  journeyed  from  the  East  they 
found  a  plain  in  the  land  of  Shinar. "  We  believe 
that  the  reading  of  the  Old  Version,  "from  the 
East"  is  the  proper  reading  in  this  connection. 
When  two  readings  of  equal  authority  in  the  abstract 
are  in  question,  that  must  be  chosen  which  agrees 
with  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  As  yet  this 
region,  the  plain  of  Shinar,  had  not  been  reached  by 
any  of  the  families.  The  conference,  we  may  rea- 
sonably suppose,  took  place  to  the  East  of  it,  in  the 
region  which  eventually  fell  to  the  descendants  of 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


7i 


Shem.     There  is  a  general  consent  as  to  the  main 
outline   of  the   partition,    in   which   the    west    and 
south,  or  rather  the  southwest  was  assigned  to  Ham. 
When,  therefore,  this  family  went  forth  to  work  out 
their  destiny,  and  reached  the  plain  of  Shinar,  find- 
ing it  a  most  desirable  place  of  settlement,  though  it 
was  not  in  their  right,  there  they  made  a  stand,  and 
under  the  mighty  conduct  of  Nimrod,   and  disre- 
garding   the    family  compact,   they  determined  to 
strike  a  blow  not  only  for  independence,    but   for 
supremacy.     The  unity  of  speech  which  favored  a 
common  agreement,  would  equally  favor  a  design 
of  conquest.     If  it  had  continued,  that  design  might 
have  succeeded.     The  grandeur  of  the  conception, 
and  the  excitement  of  new  and  stirring  adventures, 
would  attract  many  of  the  godless  sort,  and  might 
even  seduce  some  from  the  ranks  of  Shem.     Few, 
unless  strongly  principled  with  godly  fear,  can  resist 
the   attractions   of    wealth   and   renown   and    bold 
enterprise.     Even  as  it  was,   and  notwithstanding 
the  check  from  heaven,  Nimrod  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing a  powerful  kingdom,  though  falling  short  of 
universal   dominion.     Perhaps  to  the  period   after 
the  dispersion,  when  Nimrod,  shorn  of  some  of  his 
power,  still  pursued  his  design,  we  may  assign  the 
expedition  of  Asshur.     Asshur  was  a  son  of  Shem, 
but  there  had  been  time  for  his  family  to  become 
powerful.     Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause  of 
his  going  over  to  Nimrod,  we  may  take  his  name  in 
the  ethnical  sense  when  it  is  said  that  "out  of  that 
land  went  forth  Asshur  and  built  Nineveh."     The 
motive  may  well  have  been  discontent,  coupled  with 
consciousness  of  fitness  to  conquer  and  rule.    What- 
ever may  have  been  the  cause  of  this  expedition,  it 


74 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


is  not  easy  to  see  why  our  revisers  prefer  to  change 
the  old  version,  and  to  assume  the  existence  of  an 
Assyria,  before  and  apart  from  the  building  of  Nin- 
eveh. The  distinction  between  the  city  of  Nineveh, 
founded  by  Asshur,  and  the  city  of  Babylon,  Nim- 
rod's  capital,  is  marked  in  the  historian's  summary, 
and  distinctly  expressed  in  the  later  age  of  the 
prophet  Micah,  who  says  of  a  coming  deliverer  and 
his  train,  "They  shall  waste  the  land  of  Asshur 
with  the  sword,  and  the  land  of  Nimrod  in  the 
entrances  thereof." 


ORIGIN   OF    KINGLY   GOVERNMENT. 

The  institution  of  government  by  kings,  imme- 
diately consequent  upon  the  confusion  of  tongues,  is 
proof  that  in  judgment  God  remembered  mercy. 
The  world,  taking  up  a  new  life  under  new  condi- 
tions, was  not  left  without  help  and  guidance. 

With  the  exception  of  what  we  gather  from  the 
genealogy  and  Moses'  comments  thereon  in  Gen. 
lo,  there  is  no  record  of  human  affairs  from  the 
time  of  the  dispersion  to  the  days  of  Abraham. 
Abraham  was  seventh  (inclusive)  from  Eber,  in 
whose  days  the  earth  was  divided,  and  the  speech  of 
men  confounded.  Yet  during  that  brief  period  the 
method  of  government  by  kings  had  generally 
obtained.  No  less  than  ten  kings  are  named  in 
connection  with  Abraham's  life.  So  suddenly  do 
they  appear,  that  it  was  as  if  they  had  sprung  out  of 
the  earth.  Yet  there  is  evidently  a  history  behind 
them.  Though  it  has  never  been  written,  we  may 
be  permitted,  as  in  all  other  cases,  to  consider  what 
light  the  circumstances  may  throw  upon  this  remark- 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


75 


able  change.  In  estimating  the  significance  of  any 
office  or  function,  we  naturally  have  recourse  to  the 
name  by  which  it  is  designated.  If  we  do  this  in 
the  present  case  we  find  that  the  quality  of  counsel 
is  involved  in  the  name  and  office  of  kings.  This  is 
very  significant,  and  will,  I  think,  be  found  in  har- 
mony with  the  course  which  must  have  been  taken 
by  the  various  bodies — nations  they  were  called — 
into  which,  through  the  confusion  of  tongues,  the 
human  family  was  of  necessity  divided.  Each  body, 
no  longer  under  patriarchal  rule,  and  consequently 
devoid  of  any  recognized  authority,  would  be  swayed 
solely  by  regard  to  separate  and  individual  inter- 
ests; every  man  for  himself;  every  family  for  itself; 
selfish  contentions  for  the  best  pastures,  fountains, 
and  streams.  Looking  to  the  almost  universal  con- 
duct of  men  under  such  circumstances,  we  are 
assured  that  this  state  of  things  would  not  last  long. 
Those  who  spake  one  language  would  come  together. 
Some  wiser  than  the  rest — so  it  always  happens — 
would  urge  upon  their  companions  how  necessary 
it  was  to  their  safety  to  be  united.  The  obvious 
and  natural  result  would  be  the  choice  of  a  head. 
If  language  had  failed,  memory  would  survive.  If, 
as  we  have  endeavored  to  show,  the  partition  of  the 
earth  was  the  outcome  of  a  family  council,  the 
memory  of  this  would  furnish  a  precedent.  Let  us 
do  as  our  fathers  did.  Let  us  take  counsel  together 
and  consider  what  is  best  to  be  done.  If  this  be  in 
harmony  with  the  natural  course  of  human  affairs, 
we  can  see  how  the  new  mode  of  government 
acquired  its  name. 

I  think  we  can  see  also  that  this  method  of  rule — 
counsel  for  the  common  good — was  better  than  the 


76 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


old,  namely  the  patriarchal,  which  gave  free  scope  to 
despotic  rule.  If  we  take  the  case  of  any  nation  in 
our  own  day,  where  all,  in  the  main,  speak  one  lan- 
guage, and  call  their  ruler  father,  thus  approximat- 
ing to  the  antediluvian  mode  of  rule,  we  can  easily 
perceive  what  an  abatement  of  power  and  check  to 
ambitious  designs  would  ensue  were  this  nation 
suddenly  to  find  itself  divided  into  ten  bodies, 
speaking  different  languages.  It  is  no  disparage- 
ment to  the  superiority  of  the  new  mode  of  gov- 
ernment that  its  working  has  not  been  perfect,  and 
that  the  rule  conferred  by  all  on  one,  grew  into 
heritages,  heritages  into  dynasties,  dynasties  into 
despotisms,  for  there  is  nothing  so  good  but  the 
pride  and  wickedness  of  man  will  turn  it  to  evil. 
Even  as  early  as  Abraham  we  may  see  in  "Tidal 
King  of  Nations"  the  struggle  after  world  power  in 
the  exercise  of  this  method  of  rule.  We  only  say 
that  its  tendency  is  good,  and  that,  with  all  its  draw- 
backs, its  operation  has  been  better  for  mankind 
than  the  patriarchal  mode.  The  newborn  nation — 
the  term  for  the  people,  like  that  for  the  ruler, 
being  also  new — thus  knit  together  under  one  head, 
would  be  free  to  expand,  and  better  able  to  hold  its 
own.  Separate  governments  created  separate  inter- 
ests. The  virtues  of  industry,  temperance,  and 
valor,  would  be  cultivated  as  needful  to  their  pros- 
perity and  under  the  stimulus  of  adventure  the  earth 
would  be  more  speedily  settled.  And  though  some 
of  the  rulers  of  men  abused  their  delegated  author- 
ity, constant  checks  and  limitations  through  popular 
discontent  would  remind  them  that  not  their  will, 
but  the  welfare  of  the  people,  was  the  supreme 
consideration.     Few  were  so  devoid  of  a  sense  of 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


71 


their  responsibilities  as  not  to  dread,  and,  in  greater 
or  less  degree,  seek  to  disarm,  popular  resentment. 
Something  of  counsel  entered  into  all  their  plans. 
There  are  in  every  kingdom  or  nation  magistrates, 
and  courts  of  justice,  for  settlement  of  disputes,  and 
redress  of  wrongs,  so  that  an  apostle  declared  that 
the  ruler  was  even  the  minister  of  God  himself,  for 
the  punishment  of  evil-doers,  and  the  praise  of 
them  that  do  well. 


THE   DIVINE    WILL   THAT   NATIONS 
SHOULD    BE    FREE. 

If,  then,  this  view  of  the  origin  of  kingly  govern- 
ment be  correct,  namely,  that  it  was  the  expression 
of  the  popular  will  and  of  the  right  of  the  people  to 
take  counsel  on  and  to  regulate  their  own  affairs, 
and  if  also  it  be  true  that  it  was  under  divine 
prompting  and  direction  that  this  was  brought 
about,  it  follows  that  it  is  the  will  of  God  that 
nations  should  enjoy  the  inestimable  benefits  of 
freedom.  They  have  often  achieved  this  right,  and 
consigned  to  nothingness  the  empty  claim  of  mortal 
men  of  a  divine  indefeasible  right  to  rule  their  fel- 
lows. There  is  nothing  essentially  inimical  to  true 
freedom  in  heritages  and  dynasties,  if  the  right  of 
the  people  to  set  them  aside  for  misconduct,  and  to 
have  a  voice  in  the  enactment  of  laws  for  their 
good,  be  not  impugned.  A  singular  spectacle  is 
afforded  in  our  own  day  of  a  nation,  in  the  very 
van-guard  of  the  free,  retaining  at  its  head,  and 
rejoicing  and  glorying  in  the  fact,  a  ruler  in  whom, 
along  with  personal  fitness  to  rule,  is  centered  all 
the  prestige  of  dynasty  and  heritage.     Looking  at 


78 


As  It  Was  111  The  Beginning 


the  diverse  sentiments  which  contend  in  the  bosom 
of  this  great  people,  it  is  difficult  to  estimate  the 
beneficial  effect  of  the  harmonious  working  of  these 
two  apparently  inconsistent  elements,  assuring  the 
invincible  progress  of  freedom  on  the  one  hand, 
and,  on  the  other,  creating  a  balancing  power,  which 
tends  to  preserve  it  from  anarchy  and  wildness. 
Nor  does  it  affect  the  principle  that  in  some  nations 
the  name  has  been  changed  from  king  to  some 
other  appellation.  It  is  a  very  common  case,  where 
a  function  has  become  odious  through  long  abuse, 
that  the  very  name  is  also  changed,  when  the  func- 
tion ia  restored  to  its  proper  exercise,  and  it  is  well 
that  it  should  be  so.  The  retention  of  the  name 
might,  through  the  force  of  long-continued  associa- 
tions, bring  back  corruption  of  the  function.  No 
sacrifice  of  principle  is  involved,  while  the  thing 
denoted  remains  the  same.  From  the  above  con- 
siderations we  may  draw  this  conclusion,  that  gov- 
ernment by  kings  was  the  first  expression  of  human 
freedom;  and  the  emancipation  of  mankind  from 
that  arbitrary  and  despotic  rule  which  was  an 
essential  element  of  a  purely  patriarchal  govern- 
ment. 

But  the  above  account,  if  reasonable,  of  the  origin 
of  kingly  rule  from  the  human  point  of  view,  does 
not  of  itself  sufficiently  explain  its  swift  and  general 
adoption  by  the  newly-formed  nations,  both  as  to 
the  name  and  function.  It  will,  I  think,  be  found 
in  harmony  with  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  as 
well  as  with  the  scriptures  at  large,  that  God,  who 
had  brought  men  into  this  new  and  difficult  crisis 
of  affairs  by  the  confusion  of  their  speech,  failed 
not  to  assist  them  to  a  favorable  beginning  of  their 


i 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


79 


new  career.  There  are  many  signs  that  the  knowl- 
edge of  God  did  not  become  extinct  at  this  juncture, 
or  that  all  communication  between  God  and  the 
newly-formed  nations  was  at  once  cut  off.  In  Abra- 
ham's day  there  was  a  king  of  Salem,  who  was  also 
priest  of  the  Most  High  God.  God  spoke  in  a  dream 
to  Abimelech,  king  of  Gerar,  who  also  answered 
him  by  a  name  first  begun  to  be  used  in  Abraham's 
lime.  The  light  which  had  descended  through  the 
patriarch,  Noah,  was  not  quenched  all  at  once.  And 
this  agrees  with  the  words  of  the  apostle,  who, 
assuming  its  early  existence,  said  of  men  that  "when 
they  knew  God  they  glorified  him  not  as  God,  but 
because  vain  in  their  imaginations,  and  their  foolish 
heart  was  darkened."  Declension  from  the  light 
was  gradual.  We  are  speaking  from  the  scriptural 
standpoint  when  we  afiirm  that  God  was  with  the 
nations  at  this  parting  of  the  ways,  and  that,  as  the 
judgment  was  supernatural,  so  also  were  the  help 
and  benefit. 


DISTINCTION  BETWEEN  THE  ANTEDILU- 
VIAN WORLD   AND   THE   NATIONS 
IN   THE    LAST   DAY. 

The  distribution  of  mankind  into  separate  nation- 
alities is  expressly  attributed  to  God  in  the  scrip- 
tures. "All  NATIONS  whom  thou  hast  made,"  said 
the  Psalmist,  and  this  is  a  special  statement,  differ- 
ent from  the  general  statement  that  all  men  are  the 
work  of  his  hands.  To  the  same  effect  are  the 
words  of  Moses:  "When  the  Most  High  divided  to 
the  nations" — using  the  new  word — "their  inher- 
itance, when  he  separated  the  sons  of  Adam" — the 


8o 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


elect  line — "he  set  the  bounds  of  the  peoples  accord- 
ing to  the  number  of  the  Children  of  Israel."  We 
must  always,  in  reading  the  scriptures,  look  for  a 
reason  why  one  word  in  a  particular  statement  is 
preferred  before  another.  It  is  noteworthy  that  our 
Lord,  speaking  of  his  coming  as  the  Son  of  man  in 
the  last  day,  said,  "Before  him  shall  be  gathered  all 
nations" — not  all  mankind.  There  must  be  a 
reason  for  this.  We  must  beware  of  fanciful  inter- 
pretations, but  we  may  not  lightly  pass  over  things 
that  differ.  Every  word  from  the  mouth  of  kings 
is  weighed.  If,  then,  the  judgment  of  the  flood  was 
final  and  universal,  so  far  as  the  ^Id  world  was  con- 
cerned,— and  this  seems  to  be  the  force  of  the  word 
(i  Pet,  3)  "once"  in  A.  V.  (discarded  in  R.  V.) 
signifying  not  once  upon  a  time,  but  once  for  all — 
and  if  our  Lord  declares  the  judgment  in  the  last 
day  as  coming  upon  the  nations,  and  the  old  world 
was  not  a  nation,  but  a  rebellious  family,  then, 
while  wc  have  no  right  to  draw  absolute  conclu- 
sions, we  may  meditate  on  the  awful  thought  that 
the  judgment  of  the  antediluvians  is  past  and  done 
with,  and  that  they  are  already  in  the  state  to  which 
the  nations  will  bs  consigned  in  the  last  day.  For 
the  teaching  of  the  scripture  is  plain  as  to  the  truth 
that  a  lower  depth  is  reserved  for  those  who  w'U  be 
sentenced  in  the  day  of  judgment,  than  that  to 
which  they  descend  when  in  the  hour  of  dissolution, 
they  enter  the  state  intermediate  between  death  and 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

The  confusion  of  tongues,  then,  was  not  an  iso- 
lated wonder,  or  an  arbitrary  chastisement,  but  a 
means  to  a  beneficial  end.  It  effected  an  improve- 
ment on  the  previous  order  to  things  under  which 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


8i 


the  earth  had  become  so  utterly  corrupt.  And, 
indeed,  all  providential  checks  are  either  remedial 
or  precautionary.  Every  change  is  intended  for 
betterment,  and  especially  for  the  restraint  of 
human  ambition  and  rebuke  of  man's  ungodliness. 
According  to  the  teaching  of  scripture,  ihc  order 
of  kingly  government  was  in  the  divine  counsels 
before  it  obtained  on  earth.  It  was  instituted 
among  men  for  their  trial,  first,  among  the  nations 
at  large,  then,  under  the  immediate  direction  of  the 
Lord,  in  Israel.  All  alike  failed  in  producing  a 
perfectly  righteous  rule.  The  issue  was  the  exalta- 
tion of  the  only  perfectly  righteous  man,  the  Son  of 
God,  to  the  throne  of  universal  dominion,  called  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  Under  his  rule  freedom  began 
indeed;  even  "the  glorious  liberty  of  the  Sons  of 
God."  For,  "if  the  Son  shall  make  you  free,  then 
are  ye  free  indeed." 


THE    GOSPEL    PREACHED    TO    ABRAHAM. 

When,  after  the  confusion  of  tongues,  the  newly 
formed  nations  began  to  spread  abroad  over  the 
earth,  th?-  followers  of  Jehovah,  whose  worship 
began  with  the  sei  ement  of  the  genealogy,  kept 
themselves  a  distinct  family  under  patriarchal  rule. 
In  the  call  of  Abraham,  God's  displeasure  against 
the  a,tions  began  to  appear,  and  his  purpose  to  form 
a  new  nation,  distinct  and  separate  from  the  rest, 
was  declared.  In  Abraham,  also,  the  Gospel  came 
into  view,  as  a  bright  lijrVt  shining  from  afar,  and 
the  blessing,  hitherto  confined  to  one  family,  was, 
in  his  seed,  to  be  extended  to  all  the  earth.  The 
promise  took  immediate  effect  upon  himself,   and 


82 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


I' 

r 


Abraham  stands  conspicuous  as  the  first  believer  in 
the  Gospel,  father  of  the  faithful,  accepted,  as  every 
soul  of  man  must  be  accepted,  for  his  faith  alone. 
Abraham  ''believed  in  Jehovah,  and  he  counted  it 
to  him  for  righteousness." 

Now,  when  the  apostle  said  ^that  the  Gospel  was 
preached  before  unto  Abraham,  it  may  be  asked 
whether  he  knew  this  by  direct  revelation,  or 
whether  he  gathered  it  from  the  scriptures.  Be- 
lieving that  it  was  a  rule  with  our  Lord  and  the 
apostles  to  show  to  believers  the  way  of  interpreting 
the  scriptures  for  themselves,  we  take  the  statement 
in  the  latter  sense,  namely,  as  an  interpretation, 
and  therefore  capable  of  verification;  and  our 
inquiry  will  be  whether  we  can  discern  in  the  narra- 
tive the  grounds  on  which  it  rests. 

As  so  many  points  of  contact  with  Gospel  truth 
are  contained  in  Abraham's  history,  we  will  limit 
ourselves  to  one — the  sacrifice  of  Isaac.  And 
this  is  the  apostle's  interpretation  thereof  (Heb.  1 1) : 
"By  faith  Abraham,  when  he  was  tried,  offered  up 
Isaac;  and  he  that  had  received  the  promises  offered 
up  his  only  begotten  son,  of  whom  it  was  said.  That 
in  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called;  accounting  that 
God  was  able  to  raise  him  up  even  from  the  dead ; 
from  whence  also  he  received  him  in  a  figure." 
And  this  is  h.'^w  the  apostle  interprets  Abraham's 
act  and  thought.  First,  that  though  the  act  was  not, 
in  the  issue,  accomplished,  Abraham  undoubtedly 
intended  to  sacrifice  his  son  without  any  thought 
to  the  contrary.  This  is  so  plain  from  the  history 
that  it  needs  no  further  <  nark.  Secondly,  that 
Abraham  expected  that  G'd  would  raise  him  from 
the  dead.     As  the  history  does  not  state  this,  we 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


83 


d 


> » 


lit 

T 
at 


have  to  inquire  whether  its  tenor  warrants  such  an 
interpretation.  We  believe  that  it  does.  We  read 
that  Abraham,  proceeding  alone  with  Isaac  to  the 
place  of  sacrifice,  said  to  his  servants,  "Abide  ye 
here  with  the  ass;  and  I  and  the  lad  will  go  yonder 
and  worship,  and  will  come  again  to  you."  (A.  V.) 
In  the  Revised  Version,  the  words,  "we  will,"  are 
rightly  added  to  the  word  worship,"  and  if  the  same 
words  were  added,  as  the  original  requires,  to  the 
last  clause  also,  the  statement  would  be  emphatic 
indeed.  It  would  read  thus:  "I  and  the  lad  will 
go  yonder,  and  we  will  worship,  and  we  will  come 
AGAIN  to  you."  I  believe  we  have  here  the 
ground  of  the  apostle's  interpretation.  If  Abraham 
said  this  to  the  servants  in  simple  truth,  his  thought 
plainly  was  that,  after  slaying  his  son,  he  would 
return  with  him  alive.  There  is  but  one  possible 
interpretation  of  this  thought,  namely,  that  he 
expected  that  God  would  raise  him  from  the  dead. 
By  no  other  means  could  he  return  with  him  alive. 
It  is  just  here  that  the  apostle's  statement  that  the 
Gospel  had  been  preached  to  Abraham,  becoiiics  a 
necessity  to  the  interpretation.  Only  by  revelation 
of  the  Gospel,  of  which  the  resurrection  of  the  Son 
of  God  from  the  dead  is  the  central  truth,  could  the 
resurrecdon  of  Isaac  have  occurred  to  Abraham's 
mind.  That  God  should  have  made  such  a  revela- 
tion before  he  required  Abraham  to  sacrifice  his  son 
was  but  according  to  his  goodness,  and,  indeed,  his 
promise.  Abraham  was  a  prophet,  and  we  read 
(Am.  3),  "Surely  the  Lord  God  will  do  nothing- 
but  he  revealeth  his  secret  unto  his  servants,  the 
prophets."  If,  then,  God  had  revealed  to  Abraham 
that  he  would  raise  up  his  own  son  Jesus  from  the 


84 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


dead,  he,  Abraham,  would  justly  reason  that  he  was 
able  also  to  raise  up  Isaac.  And  if  he  was  able,  he 
would  also  do  it,  for  how  otherwise  could  the  promise 
of  a  great  nation  to  be  born  of  Isaac  be  fulfilled? 

Abraham's  temptation,  then,  was  not  an  arbitrary- 
test  how  far  he  would  go  in  blind  obedience,  but 
the  trial  of  a  mind  spiritually  enlightened  to  know 
and  do  the  will  of  God. 

But  we  must  go  further,  and  say  that  the  revela- 
tion was  not  limited  to  the  one  fact  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  Son  of  God,  but  comprehended  all  the 
great  and  blessed  consequences  of  that  event.  This 
was  our  Lord's  interpretation,  "Abraham  rejoiced 
to  see  my  day;  and  he  saw  it,  and  was  glad." 
Doubtless  he  saw  it  in  a  vision.  For  thus  we  read 
(Gen.  15),  "The  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  Abra- 
ham in  a  vision."  Preaching  is  one  way  in  which 
the  word  comes.  "Preach  the  word."  So  Peter 
(Ac.  10), 
of  Israel 

Lord  of  all."  If,  then,  by  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
Abraham  in  a  vision  saw  Christ's  day,  as  Isaiah, 
Daniel  and  John  saw  it,  then  was  the  Gospel  made 
known  to  him  in  all  its  fulness.  He  ''sazc"  (in  a 
vision)  Christ's  glory;  saw  him  sitting  upon  his 
throne;  his  messengers  going  into  all  the  world, 
according  to  promise,  proclaiming  the  great  sacri- 
fice ;  the  elect  of  all  nations  entering  into  his  king- 
dom by  faith;  the  dead,  small  and  great,  standing 
before  God;  and  the  resurrection  to  eternal  life  of 
all  obedient  soub.  Vv'ith  a  mind  full  of  theye  v/on- 
ders  of  divine  power  and  goodness,  he  would  count 
the  resurrection  of  his  son  a  certain  thing  rather 
than  that  all  God's  promises  should  fail. 


"The  word  which  God  sent  to  the  children 
,   preaching  peace  by  Jesus  Christ;  he  is 


tJ 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


85 


la 
is 


t 
r 


And  if  these  things  were  revealed  to  Abraham 
before  he  went  forth  to  sacrifice  his  son, — and  I 
think  this  may  be  the  force  of  the  apostle's  words, 
"preached  defore,  the  Gospel  unto  Abraham,  say- 
ing, *'In  thee  shall  all  nations  be  blessed,"  which 
words,  and  also  the  word  which  came  to  him  in  a 
vision,  were  spoken  to  him  before  he  was  bidden  to 
offer  lip  his  son, — if  he  saw  that  he  was  to  take  part 
in  the  work  of  the  world's  redemption;  and  that,  by 
the  sacrifice  of  his  son,  he  was  to  set  forth,  as  in  a 
figure,  the  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God  himself;  then 
would  he  glory  in  the  thought  that  he  was  counted 
worthy  to  suffer,  and  be  associated  with  God  him- 
self, in  this  act  of  love  and  mercy.  He  knew  what 
he  was  doing  and  expecting  vvhen  he  said,  "My  son, 
God  will  provide  himself  a  lamb  for  a  burnt  offer- 
ing";  not  a  ram,  caught  in  a  thicket  by  the  horns, 
but  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world.  When  his  trial  was  ended  and  he  found 
that,  after  all.  One  only  was  to  suffer  for  sin,  the 
Just  for  the  unjust,  his  joy  found  utterance  in  the 
triumphant  exclamation,  Jehovah-jireh,  The  Lord 
will  provide.  And  thus,  I  conceive,  did  he  rejoice 
to  see  the  Lord's  day,  and,  seeing  it,  was  glad. 

But  our  conception  of  Abraham's  act  is  not  com- 
plete unless  we  consider  also  the  spirit  in  which  he 
did  it.  It  was  not  only  because,  through  the  revel- 
ation made  to  him,  he  saw  himself  associated  with 
God  in  his  purpose  of  mercy  and  love,  but  because 
he  had  a  heart  corresponding  thereunto.  "When  the 
heart  is  fully  engaged  on  any  object,  what  sacrifices 
are  not  men  willing  to  make  for  the  accomplishment 
of  their  desires.  If  there  are  parents  who  will 
gladly  send  forth  their  sons  to  die  for  their  country; 


t  f 


86 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


if  they  esteem  their  country  above  their  family;  how 
much  more  Abraham,  when  he  sav/  the  salvation  of 
the  world  at  stake.  This  argument  does  not  appeal 
to  sense  but  to  reason.  For  of  this  kind  are  mar- 
tyrs, who  counted  not  their  lives  dear  to  them,  so 
that  they  might  help  forward  the  work  of  redeem- 
ing love  towards  mankind.  Think  what  God  called 
them  to  endure,  what  they  were  willing  to  endure, 
rather  than  deny  the  truth  of  his  salvation.  They 
endured  because,  like  Abraham,  they  believed. 
And  truly  Abraham  was  a  martyr,  the  first  who 
consciousl)''  made  himself  a  martyr  for  the  Gospel's 
sake.  If  we  need  any  proof  of  his  love  to  mankind, 
let  us  remember  how  he  agonized  in  prayer  for 
Sodom,  when  God  made  known  to  him  that  it  was 
to  be  destroyed  by  fire  from  heaven.  Can  we  doubt 
that  he  would  have  been  willing  even  to  die  that 
that  one  city  might  be  saved?  How  much  more  for 
a  whole  world,  when,  in  his  vision  of  the  day  of  the 
Lord,  its  impending  doom  was  set  before  his  eyes, 
as  reserved  unto  fire  against  the  day  of  judgment 
and  perdition  of  ungodly  men.  To  save  men  from 
this  perdition,  God  gave  his  Son,  and,  in  the  same 
spirit  of  pity  and  love,  Abraham  was  willing  to 
follow  that  divine  example. 

We  have  here,  moreover,  a  signal  proof  that  the 
fathers  did  not  look  only  for  temporal  promises,  but, 
as  the  apostk  says,  "they  looked  for  a  city  which 
hath  foundations  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God." 
They  all  knew  that  their  Messiah  must  suffer  and 
die,  and  be  raised  from  the  dead,  before  they  could 
enter  into  life  and  glory.  And  the  apostle  says 
again,  speaking  of  the  men  who  wrought  wonderful 
things  through  their  belief  in  the  word  of  promise, 


I 


1(1 
d 

Lil 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


87 


<< 


These  all  died  in  faith,  not  having  received  the 
promises,  but  having  seen  them  afar  off,  and  were 
persuaded  of  them,  and  embraced  them,  and  con- 
fesiied  that  they  were  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the 
earth." 

AUTHORITY   OF   THE    BOOK   OF   MOSES. 

In  the  history  of  God's  dealings  with  Abraham 
we  can  hardly  fail  to  see  that  in  him  the  revelation 
of  grace  and  mercy  reached  a  new  point  of  depar- 
ture. In  this  he  was  different  from  the  fathers.  To 
none  of  them  was  formally  made  known  the  truth 
that  for  justification  before  God  a  man's  faith  is 
counted  to  him  for  righteousness;  that  one  man 
must  die  for  the  sin  of  the  world ;  that  in  him  and 
in  his  seed  should  all  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed ;  in  which  truths  the  Gospel  consists,  and  by 
them  it  was  made  known  to  Abraham.  What  more 
required  to  be  done?  The  way  of  justification  being 
revealed,  and  the  sacrifice,  prefigured  in  Isaac, 
accepted,  salvation  might  now  surely  be  published 
through  all  the  earth.  Instead  of  this,  there  was  a 
pause;  a  long  night;  and  then  a  dispensation  to 
illustrate,  by  special  arrangements  of  a  wonderful 
character,  the  need,  nature,  and  personality,  of  a 
Redeemer,  and  of  a  Mediator  between  God  and  man. 
Abraham,  in  whom  the  light  of  the  Gospel  so  clearly 
appeared,  was  to  stand  aside  for  a  time,  and  give 
place  to  a  prophet  by  whose  ministry  those  prepar- 
atory wonders  were  to  be  shown,  after  which  the 
broken  thread  would  be  reunited,  and  Abraham's 
seed  be  continued  through  all  generations.  That 
prophet  was  Moses;    Moses,   in   and  by  whom  the 


88 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


truth  of  the  past  was  confirmed,  and  the  grace  of 
the  future  assured.  The  reader  will,  therefore,  I 
trust,  bear  with  a  somewhat  extended  consideration 
of  what  is  written  concerning  this  prophet  and  his 
work. 

Our  Lord's  ansn^er  to  the  question  of  his  Jewish 
adversaries  raised  the  further  question  of  the  author- 
ity on  which  they  should  believe  on  himself  as  speak- 
ing to  them  from  the  beginning;  for  nowhere  in  the 
scriptures  are  men  required  to  receive  the  word  of 
God  except  on  reasonable  grounds  of  belief.  Jesus 
was  a  man  in  no  wise  different  from  the  rest  of 
men,  except  that  he  was  more  holily  human.  He 
gave  his  hearers  to  understand  that  his  mere  ipse 
dixit  would  go  for  nothing  were  it  not  confirmed  on 
sufficient  evidence.  He  had  already  indicated  the 
authority  on  which  they  should  believe  on  him.  It 
was  the  authority  of  the  scriptures.  "Search  the 
scriptures,"  he  had  said,  "for  in  them  ye  think  ye 
have  eternal  life,  and  they  be  they  which  testify  of 
me."  He  further  limited  them  to  the  writings  of 
Moses  as  specially  confirming  his  associations.  For, 
said  he,  "Had  ye  believed  Moses,  ye  would  have 
believed  me,  for  he  wrote  of  me.  But  if  ye 
believe  not  his  writings  how  shall  ye  believe  my 
words?"  In  referring  them  to  Moses  he  empha- 
sized his  reference  to  the  beginning,  for  Moses  is 
the  sole  authority  for  all  that  took  place  in  the 
garden,  and  in  the  succeeding  ages  to  his  own  time. 
There  is  a  pertinency  in  his  answer  to  the  Jews' 
question  in  that  it  identified  them  with  all  the 
past.  For,  as  we  shall  notice  more  particularly 
afterwards.  He  who  spake  first  to  man  in  the 
garden,  continued  to  speak  in  all  following  ages, 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


89 


H 


not  to  the  world  at  large,  but  to  a  people  chosen  out 
of  the  world."  The  succession  was  unbroken,  so 
that  tlie  origin  of  the  nation  of  Israel,  including  the 
Jews,  could  be  traced  up  to  the  very  beginning  as 
the  adopted  children  of  God  and  as  one  people. 
Our  Lord's  words,  then,  were  singularly  pertinent 
to  this  truth.  "I  am  he  who  am  speaking  to  you 
from  the  beginning."  The  reader  will  remember 
other  occasions  when  our  Lord  identified  the  Jews 
with  their  fathers. 

What  we  are  now  concerned  with  is  the  authority 
of  Moses  for  what  took  place  from  the  beginning. 
It  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  the  difference  in  the 
mental  state  of  men  in  our  day  from  that  of  the 
Jews  when  our  Lord  spoke  to  them.  The  Jews 
never  denied  the  authority  of  Moses.  Our  Lord's 
rebuke  was  that  while  they  reverenced  him  as  their 
lawgiver,  and  threatened  death  to  any  who  would 
dispute  his  authority,  they  did  not  obey  him.  But 
as  there  are  some  in  our  day  who  have  difficulty  in 
believing  not  only  what  Moses  wrote  but  that  he 
wrote  at  all,  it  will  not,  I  trust,  be  amiss  to  consider 
the  nature  of  that  authority  which  our  Lord  cited  as 
indisputable,  and  to  define  the  principle  on  which 
we  proceed  in  the  interpretation  thereof. 

RULE   OF    HISTORIC     CRITICISM. 

The  candid  reader  will  admit  that  as  to  arrive  at 
the  lucaning  of  any  history,  as  distinct  from  its 
truth  in  the  abstract,  it  is  necessary  to  take  into 
account  all  the  persons,  characters,  and  circum- 
stances, with  which  the  author  deals,  and  that  to 
omit  any  one  of  them  is  to  do  the  author  an  injus- 


90 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


tice,  and  must  lead  to  partial  and  erroneous  views, 
it  is  necessary  to  apply  the  same  rule  to  the  judg- 
ment of  Uie  scriptures.  The  justice  of  this  law  may 
further  appear  by  to.king  an  analogous  case.  Sup- 
pose there  to  be  extant  but  one  ancient  history  of 
Rome,  with  an  entire  absence  of  correlative  matter, 
such  as  archives  or  records  of  any  kind,  to  elucidate 
its  meaning,  so  that  in  forming  our  judgment  we  are 
thrown  back  on  the  consistency  of  the  history  with 
itself,  and  its  harmony  with  its  unquestioned  rela- 
tions. It  is  plain  that  to  judge  that  history  fairly 
and  intelligibly  we  must  judge  it  on  this  principle. 
We  must  tak«^  it  just  as  it  stands.  To  do  otherwise, 
to  omit  any  part  thereof  in  our  criticism,  would  be 
the  sure  way  to  fail  in  determining  not  only  its 
probable  truth  in  the  abstract,  which  is  a  distinct 
question,  but  what  the  writer  really  meant  his 
readers  to  imderstand.  The  judicious  critic  would 
avoid  such  partiality,  weighing  every  word,  and 
omitting  nothing  that  might  throw  light  on  the 
author's  meaning.  This  would  be  a  case  fairly 
parallel  to  the  criticism  of  the  Bible.  Moses  is  the 
only  authority  for  the  history  of  the  world  before 
his  own  time.  It  is  plain  that  to  arrive  at  his  true 
meaning  we  must  apply  this  principle,  that  is,  deal 
with  his  work  as  we  deal  with  any  other  history, 
omitting  no  word,  no  person,  no  character,  no 
relation.  The  fact  that  it  contains  an  element 
special  to  itself,  namely  the  supernatural,  does  not 
warrant  our  dispensing  with  the  principle,  but 
rather  renders  its  application  the  more  imperative. 
We  confine  ourselves  to  this,  the  prime  end  in  all 
literary  investigations,  namely,  the  determination 
of  the  author's  meaning.     And  as  we  are  now  pro- 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


91 


posing  to  consider  the  author  himself,  and  his 
method  of  writing  and  transmitting  his  work,  we 
have  thought  it  well  to  mention  the  rule  here; 
observing  by  the  way  that  its  application  settles  the 
question  of  the  authorship  of  the  book  that  goes  by 
his  name,  even  as  it  settles  the  authorship  of  the 
books  held  to  be  written  by  Homer,  Herodotus, 
Livy,  and  many  others  about  whom  there  is  no 
dispute;  the  fact  of  this  acceptance  in  the  earliest 
ages  being  deemed  to  be  sufficient;  a  rule  which 
pre-eminently  applies  to  the  authorship  of  Moses, 
accepted  as  it  was  in  all  ages  to  the  day  of  Christ. 


WHENCE    MOSES   ACQUIRED    HIS    INFOR- 
MATION  OF   THE    PAST. 

Following  the  above  law  we  have  now  to  consider 
the  authority  on  which  the  narratives  already 
referred  to  rest.  The  authority  is  Moses,  of  whom 
and  of  whose  work  and  method  of  work  we  know 
more  than  of  all  ancient  authors  put  together.  And 
first  we  observe  that  the  series  of  narratives  in  the 
book  of  Genesis  are  not  properly  histories,  but 
chronicles.  The  historian,  in  the  proper  sense  of 
the  term,  is  an  enquirer  into  the  past,  gathering 
his  materials  from  every  available  qrirter;  always 
seeking  the  best,  namely,  that  which  most  nearly 
approaches  the  original  source.  The  first  witnesses 
are  dead  and  beyond  his  reach,  but  his  purpose  ever 
is  to  get  as  near  to  them  as  possible.  Hence  his 
satisfaction  when  he  gets  hold  of  an  original  docu- 
ment, a  chronicle  for  instance.  For  a  chronicle  is 
written  at  the  time  when  the  events  took  place,  to 
assure  the  descent  of  truth.     It  is  just  this  which 


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92 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


makes  the  Bible  narratives  different  from  history  in 
the  general  sense  of  the  term,  and  superior  to  it  in 
respect  of  assurance.  Thus  St.  Luke  says  that 
what  he  wrote  was  what  he  had  heard  from  eye- 
witnesses,— not  casual  persons,  but  official,  "minis- 
ters of  the  word" — and  that  he  wrote  with  this  pur- 
pose, that  his  reader  might  "know  the  certainty" 
of  the  things  in  which  he  had  been  instructed.  The 
student  of  scripture  is  also  in  this  sense  a  Theo- 
philus.  Having  been  instructed  concerning  the 
Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  has  recourse  to 
the  scriptures  that  he  may  know  through  them  the 
certainty  of  what  he  has  learned.  For  all  scripture 
is  written  on  the  testimony  of  eye-witnesses.  The 
scripture  narratives  are  contemporary  chronicles. 
What  we  hope  to  show  is  that  Moses  had  this  advan- 
tage, access  to  original  records.  He  himself  stands 
as  an  example  of  this  method  of  record.  For,  after 
the  discomfiture  of  Amalek,  we  read,  "The  Lord 
said  to  Moses,  Write  this  for  a  memorial  in  a 
BOOK,  and  rehearse  it  in  the  ears  of  Joshua;  for  I 
will  utterly  put  out  the  remembrance  of  Amalek 
from  imder  heaven. "  Many  such  commands  there 
are,  and  to  the  same  end,  namely,  certainty.  Thus 
the  Lord  said  to  Isaiah,  "Go,  write  it  before  them 
in  a  table,  and  note  it  in  a  book,  that  it  may  be  for 
the  time  to  come,  for  ever  and  ever."  And  as, 
according  to  the  scriptures,  God  does  not  change,  we 
must  take  this  as  his  unvarying  method  of  assuring 
the  certainty  of  his  word. 

The  reader  will  doubtless  have  noticed  in  the 
book  of  Genesis  a  distinction  between  contemporary 
chronicles,  and  the  insertions  of  the  author,  who,  in 
transcribing  them,  made  occasional  notes  or  obser- 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


93 


in 


le 

vy 
in 
r- 


vations  of  his  own.  It  is  not  necessary  to  the  work 
of  a  historian  that  any  remarks  of  this  kind  should 
be  thrown  into  footnotes  or  an  appendix.  They 
are  equally  discernible  when  found  in  the  body  of 
the  work.  For  instance,  the  statement  that  the 
man  Moses  was  meek  above  all  men  on  the  face  of 
the  earth,  was  evidently  made  by  another  writer 
after  his  death.  And  many  such  like  instances 
there  are.  The  whole  of  the  tenth  chapter  of  Gen- 
esis is  clearly  of  this  kind,  and  readily  distinguisha- 
ble from  the  chronicles  which  precede  and  follow  it, 
the  allusions  therein  pointing  to  a  condition  of  things 
which  could  not  have  existed  earlier  than  the  time 
of  Moses.  The  purpose,  also,  for  which  it  was 
inserted  may  readily  be  perceived  on  examination 
of  its  contents.  That  the  narratives  in  Genesis 
were  formed  in  this  manner,  namely,  by  the  writing 
of  contemporaries  and  eye  witnesses,  is,  I  think, 
placed  beyond  all  doubt  by  the  fact,  already  noticed, 
that  at  the  beginning,  when  the  Redeemer's  line  of 
descent  was  settled,  a  book,  called  the  "Book  of  the 
Generations  of  Adam,"  was  opened,  in  which  to 
record  from  age  to  age  the  names  in  that  line, 
beginning  with  Seth,  Adam's  elect  son.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  this  book  or  roll  descended  in  this  line 
to  posterity.  Containing  the  names  in  unbroken 
sequence  from  Adam  to  Eber,  in  whose  days  the 
earth  was  divided,  and  from  Eber  to  Abraham,  and 
from  Abraham  to  Moses,  we  can  see  how  the  book 
would  reach  his  hands.  And  if,  as  is  most  reason- 
able to  believe,  the  chronicles  of  other  events  were 
also  written  as  they  occurred,  they  also  would  come 
into  his  possession  in  like  manner.  For  the  book 
referred   to   wa«i   plainly   official.      Adam    was    an 


94 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


official  person;  so  were  his  descendants  who  suc- 
ceeded to  the  headship  of  the  elect  line.  When  we 
consider,  looking  upward  from  the  Dispersion,  that 
Noah,  Lamech,  Enoch,  were  prophets,  and,  looking 
downwards,  that  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  were 
prophets  also,  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  lo  how  the 
safe  descent  of  th2  records  was  assured.  The 
writers  and  guardians  of  them  were  not  men  of 
straw,  but  men  elect  and  chosen  to  keep  alive 
among  men  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  the  promise 
of  a  Savior  to  come.  The  book  referred  to,  accred- 
iting Adam  as  first  visible  head  of  that  line,  defines 
the  succession  from  him  through  Seth,  as  clearly  as 
was  afterwards  defined  the  succession  of  the  priest- 
hood from  Aaron.  In  no  other  way  than  by  the 
existence  in  the  family  of  successive  chronicles,  can 
we  understand  the  allusions  afterwards  so  frequently 
made  to  the  history  as  obviously  known  to  those  to 
whom  these  allusions  were  addressed.  The  name 
of  Jehovah  was  known  to  Abraham  when  he  was 
called.  He  built  an  altar,  and  called  upon  "the 
name  of  Jehovah,"  thus  showing  how  well  he  knew 
and  practiced  that  distinguishing  mark  of  the  chosen 
family  of  which  he  w^as  the  head.  And  because  he 
knew  it,  and  because  he  believed  and  trusted  in  it, 
he  forsook  his  country  and  his  father's  house,  and 
went  forth  a  stranger  and  a  pilgrim  in  the  earth. 
When  God  so  frequently  reminded  his  people  that 
he  vras  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  it 
presupposes  on  their  part  an  acquaintance  with 
God's  dealings  with  their  fathers.  When  the  people 
were  commanded  to  keep  the  Sabbath,  it  presup- 
poses their  acquaintance  with  its  original  institution. 
When  Israel  sought  passage  through  the  land  of 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


95 


Edom,  as  their  brother^  it  presupposes  their 
acquaintance  with  the  origin  of  this  relation. 
When  Moses  himself  chose  rather  to  suffer  affliction 
with  the  people  of  God  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures 
of  the  king's  court  in  which  he  had  been  brought 
up,  it  presupposes  an  acquaintance  on  his  part  witl> 
God's  dealings  with  his  people  in  the  times  past. 
We  may  perhaps  see  in  the  words  which  extended 
the  dominion  of  Israel  to  the  Euphrates,  while 
embracing  the  land  of  Canaan,  less  a  conquest,  than 
a  recovery  of  the  portion  assigned  to  the  descend- 
arUs  of  Shem  in  the  partition  of  the  earth,  and  of 
which  Ham's  ambition  had  deprived  them.  Cer- 
tainly we  can  see  a  reference  to  the  latter  transac- 
tion in  the  words  of  Moses'  song.  "When  the  Most 
High  divided  to  the  nations  their  inheritance,  when 
he  separated  the  sons  of  Adam,  [A.  V.]  he  set  the 
bounds  of  the  peoples  [R.  V.]  according  to  the 
number  of  the  children  of  Israel."  This  is  undeni- 
ably a  historic  reference,  made  in  the  manner  in 
which  God's  dealings  in  the  past  are  constantly 
referred  to  in  the  scriptures,  implying  the  existence 
of  a  written  record  of  the  division  of  the  earth 
among  the  sons  of  Noah,  and  the  separation  of  the 
family  in  the  birthright  line  from  the  rest  of  the 
peoples,  the  statement  that  "he  separated  the  sons 
of  Adam,"  agreeing  with  the  original  record  of  the 
establishment  of  the  birthright  line  in  Adam  through 
Seth.  In  all  which,  and  many  more  such  refer- 
ences, it  is  plain  that  God,  in  speaking  to  his  people, 
spoke  to  them  not  as  then  known  to  them  for  the 
first  time,  but  as  a  God  known  to  their  fathers  from 
generation  to  generation,  and  also  that  Moses  had 
in  his  hands  the  actual  chronicles  of  ancient  events, 


96 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


preserved  and  handed  down  through  a  privileged 
line  of  men. 

The  work  of  Moses,  as  author,  falls  naturally  into 
two  parts,  the  past  and  the  present;  and  these  are 
clearly  distinguishable;  the  past  contained  in  what 
is  called  the  book  of  Genesis,  the  present  the  events 
of  his  own  lifetime.  With  regard  to  the  former, 
which  alone  we  are  here  considering,  we  observe, 
keeping  to  our  principle,  that  his  information  must 
have  come  to  him  in  part  by  revelation.  In  no 
other  way,  for  instance,  could  he  have  obtained  the 
account  of  the  creation.  And  when  we  consider 
how  much  God  told  him  concerning  things  present 
and  things  to  come,  speaking  to  him,  as  the 
scripture  says,  *' mouth  to  mouth,  even  appar- 
ently and  not  in  dark  speeches,"  the  ground  of 
his  authority  for  this  part  of  his  work  becomes 
very  plain. 

As  to  the  human  part  of  the  history,  as  the  scrip- 
ture never  represents  God  as  doing  supernaturally 
what  man  can  do  for  himself,  this  must  have  come 
to  him  through  a  human  channel,  and  from  the 
necessity  of  the  case,  by  written  documents.  The 
nature  of  the  narratives  in  the  book  of  Genesis  for- 
bids the  idea  that  he  wrote  them  by  inspiration. 
No  living  man  could  have  told  them  to  him  as  an 
eye-witness.  Tradition  is  equally  out  of  the  ques- 
tion, for,  besides  the  uncertainty,  the  minute  and 
commonplace  particularity  with  which  the  various 
scenes  are  narrated  shows  the  work  of  eye-witnesses. 
Eye-witnesses  for  recent  events  (such  as  Luke  for 
instance  refers  to  as  the  authority  for  his  history) 
and  the  written  testimony  of  eye-witnesses  for 
ancient  events,  are  the  constant  and  only  law  on 


t 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


97 


tory) 
for 
on 


which  we  are  required  to  believe  any  history,  most 
of  all  the  scripture  histories. 

How  the  records  of  the  past  must  have  come  into 
the  hands  of  Moses,  although  he  was  not  in  the 
Redeemer's  line,  is  plainly  deducible  from  the  his- 
tory, for  he,  too,  was  descended  from  Seth  through 
Jacob.  In  Jacob  the  nation  of  Israel  began.  With 
change  of  office  came  change  of  name.  Instead  of 
head  of  a  family,  having  become  head  of  a  nation, 
his  name  was  no  more  called  Jacob,  but  Israel.  By 
divine  appointment  the  genealogy  was  fixed  in 
Judah's  line.  But  Israel  being  soon  to  become  a 
nation,  the  other  sons  of  Jacob  were  not  excluded, 
but  all  were  numbered  among  the  people  of  God. 
By  the  same  divine  appointment  the  priesthood  was 
settled  in  Levi.  Of  this  tribe  Moses  was  born,  and 
being,  as  type  of  Christ,  made  prophet,  priest  and 
king,  and  having  so  become  in  his  day  chief  ruler,  all 
archives  and  muniments,  being  no  longer  the  prop- 
erty of  a  family,  but  of  a  nation,  would  be  at  his 
disposal.  The  hereditary  custodian  of  the  records 
was  of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  Whoever  he  might  be, 
and  I  think  his  personality  is  easily  discernible,  he 
would  recognize  the  Lawgiver's  right  to  their  pos- 
session for  his  great  work.  That  work  was  to  pre- 
serve and  record  in  one  ^  iok  the  history  of  God's 
people  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  own 
ministration.  Although,  for  convenience  of  refer- 
ence, no  doubt,  that  book  has  been,  we  know  not  by 
whom,  divided  into  five  books,  they  are  never  so 
much  as  named  afterwards,  that  I  know  of,  by  any 
of  the  inspired  writers,  either  of  the  Old  or  New 
Testaments.  Even  before  the  book  was  finished, 
and  while  he  was  writin 


it,  it  was  still  called  the 


ijlj 


98 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


BOOK — quite  after  the  human  fashion — and  after  it 
was  finished,  it  was  ever  referred  to  as  the  Book; 
the  book  of  the  law  of  Moses ;  the  book  of  the  cov- 
enant ;  the  book  of  the  Law  of  the  Lord ;  the  book 
of  Moses.  All  God's  people  are  as  one  in  calling 
the  scriptures,  whether  of  Moses,  or  the  prophets, 
or  the  apostles,  one  book,  the  Bible,  as  engaged  in 
one  subject,  the  word  of  him  who  speaks  to  his 
people  from  the  beginning.  For  thus  it  is  written 
again,  "Seek  ye  out  of  the  book  of  Jehovah;  no  one 
thing  of  these  shall  fail."  But  this  is  literally  true 
of  the  writings  of  Moses.  Whether  by  original 
composition,  or  by  compilation  and  transcripts,  his 
whole  work  is  contained  in  one  book. 

The  reader  may  perhaps  perceive  the  force  of  the 
foregoing  conclusions  more  clearly  if  we  consider 
that  the  book  of  Moses,  relative  to  the  past,  was  a 
family  book,  not  a  family  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
faithful  of  all  nations  are  one  family,  but  a  family 
of  earthly  descent,  and  so,  suggestive  of  a  familiar 
analogy.  We  know  with  what  care  the  records  of 
any  family  of  note  are  kept,  and  how  readily  distin- 
guishable they  are  from  outside  history,  while,  at 
the  same  time,  they  furnish  the  most  reliable 
materials  for  history,  so  far  as  family  events  are 
concerned.  The  case  we  are  considering  is  stronger ; 
for  the  events  in  the  book  of  Moses  are  chiefly 
domestic.  At  least  it  is  not  outsiders  writing  the 
history  of  a  family,  but  a  family  writing  chronicles 
for  the  information  of  their  descendants.  And  as 
we  have  on  record  the  very  beginning  of  the  family 
book,  with  the  narratives  which  could  have  pro- 
ceeded only  from  eye-witnesses  who  were  members 
of  the  family,  we  have  the  utmost  certainty  of  the 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


99 


manner  in  which  the  recoi'ds  of  the  past  reached  the 
hands  of  Moses. 

Having  seen  how,  according  to  what  we  conceive 
a  just  law  of  interpretation,  Moses  must  have  per- 
formed the  first  part  of  his  work  as  author,  namely, 
by  transcribing  with  notes  the  chronicles  down  to 
the  death  of  Joseph  and  the  persecution  ensuing,  we 
have  now  to  consider  the  second  part  of  his  work, 
namely,  the  history  of  his  own  times;  which,  after  a 
brief  filling  up  of  the  interval  between  the  death  of 
Joseph  and  his  own  birth,  begins  with  the  latter 
event.  As  our  purpose  is  not  to  repeat  the  history, 
but  to  show  its  method  and  origin,  our  reference 
will  be  brief.  His  birth  and  bringing  up,  his  cast- 
ing in  his  lot  with  God's  people,  his  commission 
from  the  Lord  out  of  the  burning  bush  to  deliver 
them  out  of  Egypt,  their  exodus  and  journey 
through  the  wilderness  to  the  borders  of  the  prom- 
ised land,  under  his  conduct,  the  giving  of  the  law, 
and  all  the  marvels  attendant  thereupon,  are  too 
familiar  to  the  reader  to  require  more  than  this 
passing  notice.  We  will  only  make  this  remark. 
This  history  is  not  an  autobiography.  Nothing  in 
it  reminds  us  of  this  style  of  writing.  His  writing 
in  the  third  person  is  not  like  that  of  Caesar,  for 
instance,  in  his  commentaries,  where  it  is  still 
Caesar  that  is  magnified,  doing  all  things  according 
to  the  counsel  of  his  own  will.  The  constant  repe- 
tition of  the  formula,  that  the  children  of  Israel  did 
according  to  all  that  the  Lord  commanded  Moses, 
is  the  key  to  all  his  work.  He  did  nothing  of  his 
own  initiative.  As  God's  servant  in  the  household 
of  faith,  as  lawgiver,  prophet,  priest  and  king,  he 
showed  forth  not  his  own  glory  but  the  glory  of 


*i 


100 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


fit 


t>  5 


' 


Jehovah,  the  glory  of  him  who  was  and  is  to 
come. 

It  may,  however,  be  useful  to  dwell  a  little  more 
at  length  on  the  concluding  part  of  the  history  to 
show  its  continuity;  and  to  make  plain  that,  as 
there  was  no  break  between  the  past  and  the  pres- 
ent, so  there  was  no  break  between  the  present  and 
the  future. 

The  concluding  scenes  of  the  life  of  Moses  are 
marked  with  a  great  solemnity.  They  properly 
begin  with  that  extended  series  of  discourses  con- 
tained in  the  book  called  Deuteronomy,  in  which  he 
reviews  God's  dealings  among  the  people,  mingling 
W'ith  his  reminiscences  the  most  solemn  adjurations 
to  fidelity  and  obedience.  The  destined  period  of 
forty  years'  wandering  in  the  wilderness  had  ex- 
pired. His  ministrations  among  them  were  ended. 
He  had  no  more  laws,  no  more  commands,  to  give 
them  from  the  Lord,  except  such  as  were  proper  to 
his  approaching  departure.  These  discourses,  which 
must  have  taken  many  days  to  deliver,  were  now 
coming  to  a  close.  He  declared  that  he  had  set 
before  them  life  and  death,  blessing  and  cursing; 
and  urged  them  by  the  strongest  motives  to  choose 
life ;  to  love  the  Lord  their  God,  and  to  cleave  to 
him;  adding  these  words,  "for  he  is  thy  life,  and 
the  length  of  thy  days;  that  thou  mayest  dwell  in 
the  land  which  Jehovah  sv^are  to  thy  fathers,  to 
Abraham,  to  Isaac  and  to  Jacob,  to  give  them." 

After  this  he  began  to  make  preparations  for  his 
departure.  First  "He  went  and  spoke  these  words 
to  all  Israel.  And  he  said  unto  them,  I  am  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  years  old  this  day;  I  can  no  more 
go  out  and  come  in ;  also  the  Lord  hath  said  unto 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


lOI 


his 

)rds 

mn- 

liore 

into 


me,  Thou  shalt  not  go  over  this  Jordan."  But  he 
bade  them  be  of  good  courage,  for  the  Lord  himself 
would  go  before  them,  and  Joshua  should  take  his 
place  as  their  leader.  After  this,  by  the  Lord's 
command,  and  in  the  Lord's  presence,  Joshua  was 
solemnly  charged  with  the  task  of  leading  Israel 
into  the  promised  land  in  the  place  of  Moses.  Then 
the  Lord  himself,  to  warn  them  of  the  ruinous  con- 
sequences of  imbelief  and  disobedience,  dictated 
(see  Num.  12:  8)  to  Moses  a  song,  which  he  com- 
manded him  to  write  and  to  teach  it  to  the  children 
of  Israel,  to  be  a  witness  for  him  against  them. 
This  Moses  accordingly  did,  adding  many  words  of 
exhortation,  as  if  he  could  not  say  enough  to  estab- 
lish them  in  the  right  way. 

The  last  thing  which  Moses  did,  as  recorded  by 
himself,  was  to  put  the  book  which  he  had  now 
finished  in  a  safe  place.  "It  came  to  pass  that  when 
Moses  had  made  an  end  of  writing  the  words  of  this 
law  in  a  book,  until  they  were  finished,  that  Moses 
commanded  the  Levites  which  bare  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  of  the  Lord,  saying,  Take  this  book  of  the 
law,  and  put  it  in  the  side  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant 
of  the  Lord  your  God,  that  it  may  be  there  for  a 
witness  against  thee." 

His  work,  so  far  as  he  was  permitted  to  write  it 
himself,  was  now  ended,  but  as  if  his  last  breath 
must  be  spent  on  behalf  of  the  beloved  among 
whom  and  for  whom  he  had  lived  and  labored  for 
forty  years,  he,  evidently  in  the  spirit  or  prophecy, 
pronounced  a  blessing  on  all  the  tribes  of  Israel.  It 
is  written  in  full  by  another  hand,  with  this  preface. 
*'This  is  the  blessing  wherewith  Moses,  the  man  of 
God,   blessed    the    children    of    Israel    before  his 


^t'il 


jii 


m  ' 


W; 


102 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


death."  As  Jacob  blessed  the  tribes  one  by  one  in 
his  dying  hour,  and  another  wrote  the  blessing  and 
transmitted  it  to  posterity,  so  did  Moses  bless  Israel, 
tribe  by  tribe,  concluding  with  these  words  concern- 
ing the  Israel  of  God.  "H  .ppy  art  thou,  O  Israel; 
who  is  like  unto  thee,  O  people  saved  by  the  Lord, 
the  shield  of  thy  help,  and  who  is  the  sword  of  thy 
excellency!  and  thine  enemies  shall  be  found  liars 
unto  thee;  and  thou  shalt  tread  upon  their  high 
places. ' ' 

These  were  his  last  words.  His  voice  was  heard 
no  more  on  earth,  until,  in  his  glorified  body,  he 
appeared  and  spoke  with  the  incarnate  Jehovah 
"mouth  to  mouth"  on  the  Mount  concerning  the 
decease  which  Jesus  was  to  accomplish  at  Jerusalem. 
Having  finished  his  work,  he  went  up  into  the 
Mount  to  die.  And  the  Lord  buried  him ;  and,  says 
a  writer,  in  a  later  age,  "No  man  knoweth  of  his 
sepulchre  unto  this  day." 

The  contemporary  chronicle  thus  sums  up  his 
history.  "And  Moses  was  a  hundred  and  twenty 
years  old  when  he  died ;  his  eye  was  not  dim,  nor 
his  natural  force  abated.  And  the  children  of  Israel 
wept  for  Moses  in  the  plains  of  Moab ;  so  the  days 
of  weeping  and  mourning  for  Moses  were  ended." 

And  a  chronicler  in  a  later  age  summed  up  his 
character  in  the  following  note:  "And  there  arose 
not  a  prophet  since  in  Israel  like  unto  Moses,  whom 
the  Lord  knew  face  to  face,  in  all  the  signs  and  the 
wonders  which  the  Lord  sent  him  to  do  in  the  land 
of  Egypt  to  Pharoah,  and  to  all  his  servants,  .  nd  to 
all  his  land,  and  in  all  that  mighty  hand,  and  in  all 
the  great  terror,  which  Moses  showed  in  the  sight 
of  all  Israel, ' ' 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


103 


Thus  ends  the  history  of  Moses.  His  labors  as 
author  were  completed.  He  had  transcribed  the 
chronicles  which  had  come  into  his  hands  through 
an  unbroken  line  of  ancestors  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world  to  his  own  birth.  He  had  written  the 
Lord's  dealings  with  his  people  from  that  time  to 
the  day  when  he  pronounced  his  final  blessing,  and 
he  had  provided  for  the  safe  custody  of  all  those 
writings  and  records  by  placing  them  in  the  sanc- 
tuary by  the  side  of  the  ark,  in  charge  not  only  of 
the  priests  but  of  the  elders  of  the  people. 


JOSHUA   AS   WRITER  AND   LEADER 
AFTER   MOSES. 

It  cannot  be  doubter  that  it  was  Joshua  who  con- 
tinued the  records  when  Moses  laid  down  the  pen. 
He  was  Moses'  minister  and  constant  attendant 
while  alive,  and  his  successor  in  the  command  when 
he  was  dead.  For  the  same  reason  we  cannot  doubt 
that  he  was  the  writer  of  the  book  which  goes  by 
his  name,  the  book  of  Joshua.  The  same  spirit  of 
self-effacement  pervades  his  style.  Whatever  was 
done  the  Lord  was  the  doer  of  it.  Joshua  led  the 
people  under  the  immediate  command  of  the  ''Cap- 
tain of  the  Lord's  host,"  whose  promise  was,  "As 
I  was  with  Moses,  so  will  I  be  with  thee."  He 
followed  Moses,  also,  in  that  in  his  end,  he  urged 
upon  the  people  counsels,  wj.\rnirgs,  and  charges, 
to  continue  in  obedience  to  Jehovah  after  he  should 
have  gone  from  amongst  them.  He  also  took  care 
that  the  Lord's  dealings  with  them  during  his 
ministration  should  not  be  forgotten.  For  we  read, 
Joshua  wrote  these  words  in  the  book  of  t^'". 


tt 


n 


f  I 


!l  !; 


1  M, 


104 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


''I! 


LAW  OF  God."  Another  writer  then  takes  up  the 
story  and  records  the  death  of  Joshua.  As  we  have 
seen,  the  Book  of  Moses  is  complete  in  itself.  The 
invasion  of  the  land  under  Joshua  opens  a  distinct 
period  of  the  national  history.  What  Joshua  added 
to  the  Book  of  Moses  was  a  passing  covenant,  in 
which  the  people,  seeing  the  fulfilment  of  all  God's 
promises  made  by  Moses,  promised  to  be  true  and 
faithful  to  him.  It  was  a  supplementary  note,  and 
was  no  more  a  part  of  the  book  of  Moses  than  a 
postscript  commentary  added  to  the  book  of  a  dead 
author,  would  be  a  part  of  that  author's  book.  At 
the  same  time  we  see  how  the  narratives  and  the 
law  are  spoken  of  as  one  book ;  and  also  how  the 
method  of  chronicling  pursued  from  the  beginning, 
was  still  continu  ^d,  and  according  to  the  testimony 
of  all  the  scriptures,  continued  to  the  end,  the  cer- 
tainty of  the  records  being  assured  by  the  one  inva- 
riable rule  that  they  are  the  work  of  contemporaries 
and  eye-witnesses,  with  no  shadow  of  tradition  to 
obscure  their  meaning. 

THE   UNCORRUPT   DECCENT   OF   THE 
WRITINGS   OF   MOSES. 

There  is  usually  no  mention  made  in  history  of 
precautions  taken  to  ensure  the  descent  of  national 
records,  yet  we  are  sure,  from  the  nature  of  the 
case,  that  such  precautions  there  must  in  all  cases 
have  been.  But  as  if  nothing  must  be  omitted  to 
obviate  doubt,  special  mention  is  made  not  only  of 
the  completion  of  the  book  of  Moses,  but  of  the 
means  taken  for  its  preservation.  Here  we  might 
close  this  part  of  our  inquiry,  and  justly  regard  the 


lilt 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


105 


existence  of  the  book  itself  as  proof  sufficient  of  its 
genuineness,  just  as  we  do  in  other  ancient  histories. 
But  there  are  reasons  which  will  appear  as  we  pro- 
ceed why  we  should  not  deal  with  the  fact  so 
compendiously  in  this  case. 

We  have  already  seen  how  Moses,  when  the  Book 
was  finished,  delivered  it  to  the  priests,  the  sons  of 
Levi,  who  bore  the  ark,  and  to  "all  the  elders  of 
Israel"  with  this  charge,  "Take  this  book  of  the 
law,  and  put  it  in  the  side  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant 
of  the  Lord  your  God,  that  it  may  be  there  as  a 
witness  against  thee."  Two  ends  then  were  sought 
in  the  safekeeping  of  the  Book:  first,  one  implied, 
namely  the  multiplication  of  copies  from  the  orig- 
inal. It  was  a  standard  to  which  all  must  be 
conformed,  just  as  standards  of  weight  and  meas- 
urement are  laid  up  in  a  nation's  archives  to  secure 
uniform  and  honest  dealing  with  things  weighed  and 
measured.  That  this  was  in  the  Lawgiver's  mind 
is  plain:  for,  speaking  by  prophecy  of  the  time 
when  kingly  government  should  be  established,  he 
commanded  that  their  king,  on  ascending  the 
throne,  should  make  for  himself  a  copy  from  this 
original  for  his  guidance  in  rule  and  administration. 
By  force  of  this  arrangement  alone,  not  a  few  copies 
would  in  course  of  time  exist  in  Israel,  and,  looking 
only  to  the  manual  labor  which  went  to  their  pro- 
duction, we  may  be  sure  they  would  be  carefully 
preserved.  Besides  which,  as  to  keep  the  law  was 
as  necessary  to  the  people  as  to  their  rulers,  it  being 
enjoined  on  all,  in  the  most  particular  and  personal 
manner,  to  know  the  law,  and  meditate  upon  it,  in 
order  that  they  might  do  right  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord,  it  is  evident  that  to  have  free  and  unimpeded 


io6 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


access  to  the  scriptures,  so  far  as  circumstances 
would  permit,  was  the  right  of  every  Israelite. 
Cases  of  judgment,  indeed,  were  to  be  brought  to 
the  priests,  as  those  whose  office  required  special 
devotion  to  this  study,  but  their  judgment  must  be 
strictly  in  accord  with  that  which  was  written;  and 
did  not  supersede  the  duty  incumbent  on  the  peo- 
ple to  study  the  scriptures  for  themselves.  It  is 
easy  to  see,  then,  how  copies  of  the  book  whose 
instructions  all  were  to  follow,  would  be  multiplied. 
There  must  be  at  the  very  least,  were  it  only  for 
teachers,  copies  in  the  centers  of  population,  where 
there  were  synagogues  for  worship  and  reading  the 
law.  Just  as  in  civil  matters,  juris-consults  must 
have  copies  of  the  law  from  which  to  answer  inquir- 
ies, so  priests,  prophets  and  teachers,  in  Israel, 
must  have  had  at  hand  the  law  which  it  was  their 
duty  to  explain  and  enforce.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted 
that,  as  free  access  to  the  scriptures  which  they  were 
so  imperatively  commanded  to  obey,  was  the  com- 
mon right  of  all  classes,  not  a  few,  who  could  afford 
it,  would  have  copies  made  for  themselves.  For, 
tmlike  statutes  on  special  subjects  and  of  limited 
application,  this  law,  relating  to  every  thought  and 
deed  of  every  member  of  the  commonwealth  from 
the  least  to  the  greatest,  must  have  unimpeded 
circulation. 

Add  to  this  a  deeply-rooted  sentiment  of  the 
sanctity  of  the  law  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  The 
committal  of  the  sacred  volume  to  the  custody  of 
the  elders  of  the  people,  as  the  very  essence  of  their 
national  life  and  existence,  was  made  when  the 
reputation  and  authority  of  their  lawgiver  were  at 
their  height;  when  the  marvels  of  their  deliverance 


I  i   I 


■ 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


107 


were  fresh  in  their  minds;  when  the  terrors  of  Sinai 
still  burdened  the  national  conscience.  So  im- 
pressed were  they  with  these,  and  the  awful  denun- 
ciations against  any  who  should  dare  to  tamper  with 
these  writings,  that  the  feeling  of  their  sanctity  grew 
with  some  into  a  superstition,  so  that  they  dreaded 
to  deal  even  in  the  most  innocent  fashion  with  the 
book  which  they  were  transcribing  lest  they  should 
make  a  mistake  in  a  single  jot  or  tittle  thereof.  To 
this  must  be  added  a  motive  of  national  pride, 
powerful  in  every  nation,  especially  in  Israel,  that 
in  this  book  lay  the  very  roots  of  their  pre-eminence 
over  all  nations  of  the  earth.  So  powerful  were 
these  motives  for  keeping  the  writings  of  their  Law- 
giver pure,  that  I  doubt  whether  a  single  instance 
can  be  found  of  a  prophet  of  the  Lord  charging  any, 
whether  priests  or  people,  with  changing  or  corrupt- 
ing them;  though  often  charged  with  disobeying 
the  word  written,  and  with  keeping  it  out  of  sight, 
making  it  of  no  effect  by  their  inventions  and 
traditions. 

But  there  was  a  second  reason  for  laying  up  the 
Book  in  the  sanctuary,  and  it  is  thus  expressed, 
"that  it  may  be  there  as  a  witness  against  thee." 
Now,  doubtless  this  end  was  in  part  accomplished 
by  the  spreading  abroad  of  the  word  from  this  cen- 
ter among  all  the  people.  Wherever  it  came  it  was 
a  witness  against  ungodliness  and  sin.  But  the 
language  indicates  a  specific,  rather  than  a  general, 
fulfilment,  a  fulfilment  in  a  future  age.  "Take  this 
book  of  the  law,  and  put  it  by  the  side  of  the  ark, 
that  IT  may  be  there  for  a  witness  against  thee," 
words  which  seem  to  ir'^'cate  that  this  very  volume, 
this  original,  was  to  become  a  witness  against  the 


io8 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


.1,1' 


'i- 


rl 


rebellion  of  God's  people  in  a  future  time.  Now 
the  testimony  of  a  book  is  not  so  much  in  its  iden- 
tity, although  that  is  often  impressive,  as  in  its  con- 
tents. The  mere  existence  of  the  book  in  the 
sanctuary,  as  long  as  it  was  unknown  and  unread, 
was  of  no  effect,  but  when  discovered  and  heard,  it 
would  speak  with  a  living  voice.  And  so  it  came  to 
pass.  Eight  hundred  years  afterwards,  by  the 
merest  accident,  as  we  say,  this  identical  volume 
was  brought  to  light,  opened,  and  read,  and  great 
was  the  effect  of  its  appearance.  It  became  a  living 
witness  and  after  this  manner  it  was  brought  to  light. 
Josiah  was  repairing  the  house  of  the  Lord  as 
part  of  the  work  of  reformation  which  he  had  zeal- 
ously begun  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign.  The 
persons  to  whom  he  had  entrusted  the  work  had,  of 
necessity,  in  company  with  the  priests,  access  to  all 
parts  of  the  building,  the  prohibition  to  enter  the 
holy  place  applying  only  to  times  of  ministration, 
and  thus  the  book  was  discovered,  presumably  lying 
in  its  proper  place,  not  in  the  ark,  but  by  its  side. 
Its  discovery  is  thus  narrated:  "Hilkiah  the  priest 
found  the  book  of  the  law  of  the  Lord  by  the  hand 
of  Moses."  The  revised  version  rightly  says,  "the 
book,"  the  adjunct,  *'by  the  hand  of  Moses,"  dis- 
pensing with  the  article  in  the  Hebrew,  clearly 
implying  that  it  was  the  very  volume  laid  up  by 
Moses  in  the  sanctuary.  For  it  could  not  be  the 
intention  to  say  that  the  book  of  the  law  was  written 
by  the  hand  of  Moses,  whether  his  own,  or  that  of 
an  amanuensis,  no  one  doubting  that,  but  that  it 
was  the  very  volume  which,  by  Moses'  command, 
was  placed  by  the  side  of  the  ark.  This  book 
Hilkiah  gave  to  Shaphan,  the  scribe,  and  he  carried 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


109 


it  to  the  king,  and  read  it  to  the  king.  And  now 
two  surprising  things  happened.  First  the  disccvery 
was  made  that  the  king  did  not  know  that  sucli  a 
book  was  in  existence,  or  else  supposed  that  it  had 
been  lost:  still  less  did  he  know  that  when  he  began 
his  reign  he  ought  to  have  been  provided  with  a 
copy.  Secondly  the  book  now  became  a  liviiN'g 
WITNESS  in  his  hands,  filling  him  with  terror  at  the 
judgments  which,  according  to  the  book,  impended 
over  the  nation.  When  we  consider  the  black  reign 
of  Manasseh,  during  which,  for  more  than  fifty 
years,  he  had  filled  the  house  of  the  Lord  with 
idolatrous  altars,  and  the  equally  black  reign  of 
Amon,  his  son  and  successor,  of  whom  it  is  said  that 
he  did  worse  than  his  father,  for  he  restored  the 
idolatrous  rites  of  which  his  father  had  repented, 
but  did  not  repent  himself,  we  cannot  wonder  that 
Josiah,  son  of  the  one  and  grandson  of  the  other, 
should  have  been  brought  up  in  much  ignorance  of 
a  book  which  perforce  had  lain  hid  all  these  years. 
His  grandfather's  repentance  would  not  have  been 
altogether  without  effect,  though  he  was  onlj'-  six 
years  old  when  Manasseh  died.  Something  also  of 
the  reformation  wrought  by  his  great-grandfather, 
Hezekiah,  could  hardly  have  failed  to  reach  his 
ears.  Impelled  by  convictions  thus  casually 
acquired  he  began  to  purify  the  sanctuary  with  a 
zeal  not  inferior  to  that  of  his  ancestor.  It  is  incon- 
ceivable that  the  book  which  at  length  brought  him 
full  light  should  have  lain  hidden  so  long  but  by  the 
treachery  or  cowardice  of  the  priests.  Their  influ- 
ence in  the  palace  was  not  less  than  their  authority 
in  the  temple.  It  is  singular  that  the  high  priest 
did  not  find  the  book  till  Josiah  had  begun,  and  was 


ffl 


liliil 


I 


'    I 


l)  I 


n 


1 1 


no 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


determinedly  carrying  on,  the  work  of  reformation. 
It  is  possible,  but  not  very  probable,  that  he  did  not 
himself  know  of  its  existence.  At  the  same  time 
there  is  surely  nothing  in  the  history  to  forbid  the 
suspicion  that  he  may  have  made  a  virtue  of  neces- 
sity. He  could  not  hinder  the  reformation  carried 
on  with  so  much  zeal  by  the  king;  it  was  but  human 
to  wish  to  share  the  honor  of  bringing  it  to  pass. 
There  are  not  wanting  signs  of  this  time-serving 
policy  on  the  part  of  the  priests.  It  was  by  their 
help  that  Ahaz — and  I  think  he  was  the  first  king 
that  did  so — set  up  an  idolatrous  altar  in  the  house 
of  the  Lord;  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  sign 
that  the  priests  hindered  Hezekiah  in  removing  such 
abominations  when  they  saw  that  he  was  deter- 
mined to  do  so.  Most  assuredly  Manasseb  could  not 
have  renewed  and  multiplied  them  as  he  did,  without 
the  assistance  or  connivance  of  the  priests.  I  think 
Jehoiada  is  the  last  priest  up  to  this  time  men- 
tioned with  approval;  Jehoiada  who  restored  the 
legitimate  sovereignty,  and  whose  son,  Zechariah, 
a  prophet,  was  slain,  as  our  Lord  said,  between  the 
temple  and  the  altar,  because  he  reproved  the 
people  for  their  idolatry.  It  was  the  king  who  slew 
him.  It  was  no  light  matter,  therefore,  to  go 
against  the  kmg,  whether  for  good  or  evil;  nor  '^as 
it  strange  that  the  priests  should  side  with  the  kng 
when  they  could  not  resist  him ;  or  that  they  should 
let  the  book  lie  hid,  as  it  did  lie  hid  all  the  days  of 
!Manasseh  and  Amon,  rather  than  produce  it  for  the 
king's  reproof  and  their  own  peril,  or  that  they 
should  bring  it  to  light  when  they  knew  that  the 
king  would  accept  it  with  favor,  and  perhaps,  honor 
and  reward  them  for  the  discovery.     But  to  let  the 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


III 


the 
slew 
to  go 
or  "as 
k.ng 
should 
ays  of 
or  the 
t   they 
at  the 
honor 
et  the 


book  lie  hid,  was  different  from  destroying  it,  or 
tampering  with  its  contents.  All  that  was  needed 
for  their  own  safety  and  the  preservation  of  their 
influence  was  to  keep  it  out  of  sight.  They  knew 
very  well  that  if  they  destroyed  it,  it  would  but 
affect  a  particular  volume,  venerable  from  its  age 
and  antecedents,  but  would  leave  untouched  the 
numerous  copies  throughout  the  land,  wherefrom 
the  prophets  derived  their  instructions  and  rebukes, 
and  the  people  their  consolation  and  their  light. 
That  the  book  brought  to  Josiah  was  genuine,  and 
not  a  new  or  a  fragmentary  production,  is  evident 
from  the  king's  emotion  on  receiving  it.  Most 
assuredly  he  would  take  it  in  his  hands,  examine  it, 
and  satisfy  himself  that  it  was  indeed  the  veritable 
book  of  Moses,  and  that  its  contents  were  of  momen- 
tous import  to  himself  ar.d  his  people.  It  is  remark- 
able that  the  king  did  not  seek  peace  to  his  troubled 
spirit  from  the  priests,  but  from  the  Lord  himself  at 
the  mouth  of  a  woman,  a  prophetess.  After  hear- 
ing her  confirmation  of  the  terrible  judginents 
pronounced  in  the  book,  and  a  special  message  of 
peace  from  the  Lord  to  h-mself,  he  himself  pro- 
ceeded to  make  all  these  things  known  abroad  with 
r  .e  utmost  publicity. 

This  is  what  we  read:  "Then  the  king  sent  and 
gathered  together  all  the  elders  of  Judah  and 
Jerusalem.  And  the  king  went  up  into  the  house 
of  the  Lord,  and  all  the  elders  of  Judah  and  Jeru- 
salem. And  the  king  went  up  into  the  house  of  the 
Lord,  and  all  the  men  of  Judah  and  the  inhabitants 
of  Jerusalem,  and  the  priests,  and  the  prophets,  and 
the  Levites,  and  all  the  people,  great  and  small, 
and  he  read  in  their  ears  all  the  words  of  the  book 


112 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


OF  THE  COVENANT  that  was  found  in  the  house  of 
the  Lord.  And  the  king  stood  in  his  place  and 
made  a  covenant  before  the  Lord  to  walk  after  the 
Lord  and  to  keep  his  commandments  and  his  testi- 
monies and  his  statutes  with  all  his  heart  and  with 
all  his  soul  to  perform  the  words  of  the  covenant 
which  are  written  in  this  book.  And  all  the  people 
stood  to  the  covenant?" 

This  covenant  was  not  like  the  covenant  of  the 
law,  but  a  renewed  engagement  on  the  part  of  the 
people  to  keep  the  law.  Such  was  their  covenant 
in  the  last  days  of  Moses,  of  which  it  is  expressly 
said  that  it  was  beside  the  covenant  which  had  been 
made  in  Horeb.  Such  were  the  covenants  made 
under  Joshua,  under  the  High  Priest  Jehoiada,  and 
under  Hezekiah  the  king,  wherein  the  people  bound 
themselves  -  lew  to  fidelity  and  obedience.  In  tbese 
engagements  there  were  none  of  the  signs  or  cere- 
monies which  attended  the  making  of  the  covenant 
of  the  law.  That  covenant  was  spoken  from  Sinai, 
amid  signs  of  terror  and  awe.  It  was  written  in  a 
book,  called  the  book  of  the  covenant,  with  sacrifice 
and  sprinkling  of  blood.  Its  original  on  tables  of 
stone  was  laid  up  in  the  ark,  which  was  thence 
called  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  The  ten  command- 
ments written  on  these  tables  were  evidently  first 
copied  into  the  book  of  the  covenant,  in  which  also 
was  written  their  expansion  into  judgments  on  the 
minutest  affairs  of  life  spoken  by  the  Lord  himself 
to  Moses.  The  book  thus  begun  was  not  finished 
till  the  end  of  Moses'  life.  We  repeat,  as  a  thing 
most  necessary  to  be  remembered,  that  the  ten 
commandments,  written  by  the  finger  of  God,  were 
placed  IN  the  ark;  the  book,  containing  their  expan- 


■A 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning  113 


sion,  development,  and  effect,  during  the  lifetime 
of  Moses,  BESIDE  the  ark.  This  was  its  virtual  pub- 
lication. Copies  were  made  from  it  for  the  times ; 
and  have  been  multiplied  till  they  have  spread  over 
all  the  world.  The  book  was  its  own  witness,  read 
as  it  was  in  the  ears,  and  submitted  to  the  gaze  of 
the  assembly  of  the  learned  and  unlearned  men, 
official  persons,  priests,  prophets, — Jeremiah  per- 
haps among  them,  for  he  had  been  prophesying  five 
years  at  this  time, — and  all  the  people,  godly  and 
ungodly.  They  had  doubtless,  not  a  few  of  them, 
copies  of  their  own,  and  all  had  heard  the  scriptures 
read  in  their  synagogues  or  places  of  worship ;  but 
now  they  were  to  hear  them  read  out  of  the  very 
volume  which,  by  the  hand  of  their  Lawgiver,  had 
been  laid  up  in  the  sanctuary.  Now  would  their 
confidence  in  the  accuracy  of  their  own  copies  be 
confirmed  or  weakened.  We  little  appreciate  human 
nature,  or  understand  the  Jewish  mind,  if  we  doubt 
that,  as  soon  as  this  feature  of  the  assembly  was 
proclaimed,  the  people  would  eagerly  flock  together 
to  the  place  where  they  would  hear  the  book  read, 
and  some,  perhaps,  be  permitted  to  handle  and 
inspect  it.  Some  would  be  ready  even  to  worship 
it  for  its  antiquity,  as  they  had  worshiped  the 
brazen  serpent.  But  this  was  not  the  king's  inten- 
tion. The  people  were  not  brought  together  to 
witness  the  exhibition  of  a  relic  but  to  hear  from 
the  highest  authorities,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  the 
words  and  commandments  of  Jehovah  out  of  the  very 
book  laid  up  in  the  sanctuary  eight  hundred  years 
before. 

The  book  written  from  this  original  is  its  own 
witness   still,    with   more    abundant  proofs  of    its 


114 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


genuineness  than  exist  in  the  case  of  any  other 
work.     We  read  of  more  than  one  ancient  writer 
exulting  in  the  thought  that  his  work  would  go 
down  to  posterity.      He  could  do  little  more  to 
this  end  than  writing  and  sending  it    forth  with 
such  patronage    as   he  could   procure  to  make  its 
way  in  the  world   through   the  mere  force  of   its 
own   merits.      This  was  indeed   the   sole   depend- 
ence of  such  writers.     Far  different  was  the  hope 
concerning  this  book.     The  great  antiquity  of  the 
writings  of  Moses  envelopes  them  in  a  kind  of  mist 
to  those  who  regard  them  afar  off,  but  to  those  who 
view  them  eye  to  eye  the  mists  disperse.     We  see 
the  man  himself  at  work  on  the  book ;  we  see  him 
when  it  is  finished  taking  the  utmost  precautions 
that  human  wisdom  could  suggest  that  it  should  not 
perish.     We  see  a  signal   proof  of  the  success  of 
those  precautions  not  only  in  the  multiplication  of 
copies  but  in  the  reappearance  of  the  original  itself 
after  many  ages.     The  period  during  which  it  lay 
hid  is  about  that  of  the  Domesday  Book  in  England, 
and  greater  than  that  of  'Magna  Charta.     The  coin- 
cidence is    striking.     They    were    in    both    cases 
national  archives;  only  in  the  case  of  the  book  of 
Moses  the  precautions  taken  for  their  preservation 
are  mentioned,  whereas  in  the  case  of  the  others 
they  are  inferred.     There  is  no  reason  to  think  that 
the  book  was  less  carefully  preserved  in  the  follow- 
ing ages.     Israel    never   ceased  to   be   a  separate 
people,  zealous  for  all  that  affected  their  national 
distinction.     When  in  captivity  the  book  was  plainly 
in  the  possession  of  Daniel  and  his  companions.     It 
was  a  treasure  regarded  with  admiration  by  those 
whose  captives  they  were.     "Sing  us  the  songs  of 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


>»5 


lay 
and, 
coin- 
cases 
ok  of 
ration 
)thers 
that 
)llow- 
)arate 
tional 
lainly 
s.     It 
those 
igs  of 


Sion, ' '  they  said.  When  Israel  ceased  to  be  a  nation 
they  still  preserved  the  book.  Wherever  the  apos- 
tles went  preaching,  they  found  the  scriptures  in  the 
synagogues.  No  question  was  ever  raised  as  to 
their  genuineness,  only  as  to  their  meaning  and 
interpretation.  When,  yielding  the  scepter  to  the 
ascended  Messiah,  they  still  clung  to  the  scriptures, 
as  the  chief  surviving  remnant  of  their  ancient 
glory.  But  not  they  alone  were  interested  in  their 
preservation.  Rather  when  they  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  nation  ordained  to  bring  forth  their  fruits, 
the  true  Israel,  they  were  preserved  with  the  same 
jealous  care,  but  with  more  intelligence. 

We  have  this  book,  and  we  find  it  in  harmony 
with  itself  and  its  relations.  Its  mere  existence,  as 
we  have  already  shown,  is  prima  facie  evidence  of 
its  genuineness.  Of  all  objects  which  men  desire 
to  hand  down  to  future  generations  a  book,  if 
worthy,  is  surest  of  descent.  A  sword,  a  robe,  a 
necklace,  a  ring,  a  diamond,  even  unpublished 
family  archives,  may  bo  lost  or  perish  from  the 
family  heirlooms ;  they  can  never  be  recovered ;  but 
a  published  book,  so  long  as  it  is  prized,  endureth 
forever. 

Perhaps,  next  to  Moses,  Homer  is — of  secular 
writers — the  most  ancient  whose  work  has  come 
down  to  our  awn  times.  No  question  arises  as  to 
the  genuineness  of  his  work.  No  evidence  is 
demanded  in  proof  beyond  that  which  the  work 
itself  affords.  It  speaks  for  itself.  In  no  interven- 
ing period  did  any  persons,  like  the  seven  writers  of 
the  New  Testament,  full  of  interest  in  his  poem, 
refer  to  it,  and  quote  from  it,  in  such  manner  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  that  they  had  before  them  the  very 


f) 

? 

jl 

1 

) 

1 

■   1; 

I 

1 

'^ 

Ii6 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


book  which  is  in  our  own  hands.  No  old  writer, 
like  Josephus,  took  pains  to  write  a  digest  of  the 
Iliad,  or  discoursed  on  the  history  and  antiquities  of 
its  times.  Or  if  we  come  to  evidences  disentombed 
from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  those  which  confirm 
the  Iliad,  are  not  to  be  compared  with  those  which 
coniirm  the  scriptures  generally  and  the  book  of 
Moses  in  particular.  Nor,  in  point  of  fact,  do  any 
of  those  evidences,  however  abundant,  make  the 
conviction  of  the  genuineness  of  the  Iliad — to  speak 
only  of  that — one  whit  stronger  than  that  which 
is  produced  by  the  mere  existence  of  the  book 
itself.  Judging,  therefore,  the  Bible  on  accepted 
principles  of  historic  criticism,  its  mere  existence,  in 
the  absence  of  any  reliable  evidence  to  the  contrary, 
is  proof  of  its  genuineness.  As  to  the  errors  or 
obscurities  arising  from  infirmities  of  copyists,  or 
other  causes,  from  which  no  book,  even  the  Bible, 
can  be  held  to  be  absolutely  free,  the  candid  critic 
knows  how  to  distinguish  them  from  the  more 
serious  machinations  of  fraudulent  dealers  and 
forgers. 

If  in  the  preceding  pages  I  seem  to  have  written 
somewhat  too  positively,  it  was  not  that  I  assumed 
to  supersede  the  reader's  prerogative  to  judge  for 
himself,  but,  partly,  to  save  words,  and  partly 
because  I  deemed  it  better  to  write  in  the  form  of 
truth,  what,  according  to  my  personal  conviction, 
the  writer,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  intended  to  be 
accepted  as  true.  I  have  religiously  endeavored 
throughout  to  apply  the  just  principle  of  historic 
criticism  to  the  interpretation  of  the  writer's  mean- 
ing, nor,  in  filling  up  the  spaces  in  the  narratives, 
have  I  consciously  introduced  aught  but  what  that 


As  It  Was  In  Tho  Beginning 


117 


principle   seemed   to   me   to   justify,    and   even   to 
demand. 


CONCLUSION. 

In  conclusion,  if  the  principle  which  we  have 
briefly  endeavored  to  follow  be  sound — the  princi- 
ple, namely,  of  interpreting  Bible  history  as  we  do 
all  history,  not  from  pre-conceived  notions,  but  from 
the  author's  own  standpoint,  taking  into  account  all 
persons,  human  and  divine,  and  all  things,  natural 
and  supernatural,  so  far  as  they  are  necessarily 
related  to  his  design,  the  end  being,  first,  to  inter- 
pret his  meaning,  and  then  to  judge  its  truth;  if  we 
have  applied  this  principle  fairly  and  truly,  and  have 
not,  in  filling  up  the  spaces,  exceeded  the  liberty 
allowed  in  interpreting  all  brief  narrations,  the 
reader  will  also,  I  trust,  perceive  the  ground  of  the 
one  truth  we  have  sought  to  establish,  namely,  that 
it  was  the  Son  of  God  who,  as  God's  Messenger  or 
Angel,  also  called  his  Word,  spake  and  executed 
God's  will  among  men  throughout  the  ages  from  the 
beginning.  This,  I  apprehend,  was  the  apostle's 
meaning  when  he  said  (Heb.  i)  that  by  him  God 
**made  the  ages,"  not  the  worlds,  for  I  think  the 
scripture  speaks  but  of  one  world,  but,  as  I  con- 
ceive, the  periods  or  dispensations  of  his  deputed 
rule;  the  first  of  those  periods  being  "the  day  that 
the  Lord  God" — whom  we  have  seen  to  be  the  Son 
of  God — "made  earth  and  heaven. "  And  this  surely 
is  shown  by  his  own  words,  "I  am  the  Alpha  and 
the  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end,  the  first  and 
the  last"  (Rev.  22 :  13,  R.  V.) ;  for  if  he  be  the  begin- 
ning and  the  end,  he  is  also  all  that  comes  between. 


ii8 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


A  like  unity  has,  I  trust,  also  been  made  apparent 
in  respect  of  the  authority  for  this  truth,  namely,  the 
writings  of  Moses,  out  of  which,  like  the  growth  of 
a  tree,  is  evolved  the  whole  mystery  of  the  Son  of 
God,  from  the  first  of  the  ages  to  the  day  of  his 
appearing.  Reject  this  greatest  of  the  prophets, 
and  there  is  no  Bible,  no  Israel,  no  promises,  no 
commandments-,  no  Christ. 

If,  then,  the  roots  of  the  Gospel  be  in  the  begin- 
ning,— even  the  name  of  God,  and  of  the  Son  of  God 
(Prov.  30:4),  made  so  much  of  in  the  Scriptures; 
the  Redeemer's  electing  grace;  the  new  creation  by 
his  Son ;  the  fountain  of  Israel  after  the  flesh,  and  of 
Israel  after  the  Spirit, — we  should  not  lightly  regard 
it  as  do  some,  or  deny  it  as  do  others,  but  search  it 
profoundly.  There  is  a  mysterious  bias  in  our 
nature  which  opposes  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by 
the  Son  of  God.  Men  do  not  naturally  disbelieve  in 
God  as  God;  nor  in  the  supernatural, — far  from  it; 
nor  in  some  sense  in  atonement, — witness  propitia- 
tory sacrifices  of  every  kind  and  degree ;  nor  in  a 
judgment  to  come,  and  good  beyond  the  grave;  but 
only  in  God  as  revealing  himself  by  his  Son.  To 
this  they  have  almost  an  instinctive  repugnance. 
We  have  seen  the  earliest  exhibition  of  this  enmity 
in  the  fraud  and  jealousy  of  the  Evil  One,  scouting 
and  ridiculing  the  divine  prohibition ;  and  it  is  surely 
one  part  of  the  mystery  of  sin,  "the  sin  of  the 
world,"  that  from  this  source  the  enmity  descended 
on  and  infected  the  whole  family. 

Reader,  interpret  the  Bible  for  yourself.  Every 
man  of  honest  mind,  whether  scholar  or  not,  is  quali- 
fied to  judge  Bible  truth.  For,  said  our  Lord,  Wis- 
dom is  justified  of  all  her  children.     If,  then,  the 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


119 


children  of  God,  men  of  honest,  truthful  minds,  can 
so  .sason  as  to  justify  God,  it  must  be  that  his 
words  are  in  their  hearts  and  minds.  For,  indeed, 
the  language  of  the  Bible  is  the  language  of  nature, 
the  language  common  to  mankind,  written,  not  for 
the  scholar  but  for  man.  The  learned  diction  in 
which  the  truth  is  sometimes  sought  to  be  conveyed 
is  learned  only  in  sound.  Sift  it,  as  the  miner  sifts 
for  gold,  and  the  residuum  of  truth  falls  to  the  bot- 
tom, if  the  truth  be  there.  No  separate  language 
was  formed  to  tell  of  God  and  his  works.  When  it 
is  said  that  the  Lord  God  made  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  and  that  he  formed  the  man  dust  of  the 
ground, — the  self-same  words  which  are  used  of  the 
potter  or  the  tailor, — no  scholarship  is  lequired  for 
their  true  application.  Thus  meditated  upon  and 
interpreted,  the  scenes  in  the  garden,  which  at  first 
appear  a  sketch,  become  to  the  mind  a  finished 
drama;  the  action  full  of  human  interest;  the  scen- 
ery natural  and  charming;  the  persons  moving  and 
speaking  according  to  their  proper  characters;  the 
Lord  God  with  them  in  truth  and  goodness,  majesty 
and  power.  Here  is  scope  for  the  chastened  imag- 
ination, its  flights  limited  indeed  to  the  field  of  the 
story;  but  to  us  a  field  how  wide,  embracing  heaven 
and  earth  and  hell;  how  peopled  by  beingvS,  human 
and  divine,  good  and  evil,  angels  and  devils  and 
men!  Were  it  but  an  epic,  it  has  all  the  marks  of 
creative  genius  and  literary  skill,  so  that  even  the 
natural  mind  can  comprehend  and  enjoy  it;  how 
much  more,  though  with  joy  and  trembling,  the 
spiritual  mind,  receiving  it,  not  as  a  work  of  fancy, 
but  as  divine  absolute  truth,  in  which  he  is  himself 
profoundly  and  personally  interested  and  concerned. 


1^ 


:* 


120 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning 


Christian  life  is  given  to  be  progressive  like  all 
life.  It  is  lawful  and  pleasant,  indeed,  for  the 
newly-born  to  feast  their  souls  on  fat  things  full  of 
marrow,  on  wines  on  the  lees  well  refined,  even  as 
youth  is  ever  the  season  of  joy  and  gladness.  At 
the  same  time  they  are  admonished  that  it  is  not 
wise  to  stay  long  in  the  place  of  the  breaking  forth 
of  children ;  they  should  go  on  unto  perfection,  and, 
while  in  malice  they  remain  children,  in  under- 
standing they  should  be  men. 


NOTES. 

1.  In  our  remarks  on  learning  we  by  no  means 
intend  to  disparage  scholarship,  so  far  as  it  is  perti- 
nent to  the  case.  Some  knowledge  of  Greek  and 
Hebrew  is  desirable.  Among  the  vast  stores  of 
information  within  his  reach,  the  reader's  own  good 
sense  will  select  what  he  needs.  The  use  of  com- 
mentaries requires  judgment;  for,  besides  tending 
to  supersede  personal  investigation,  such  as  the 
apostle  speaks  of  in  "comparing  spiritual  things  with 
spiritual,"  we  cannot  admit  that  they  are  aV  relia- 
ble. This  remark,  indeed,  applies  to  religious  books 
in  general,  and  even  to  sermons.  We  conclude  that 
the  prevalence  of  error  requires  that  the  student  be 
not  only  a  learner  but  a  judge,  even  as  the  Scripture 
says,  teaching  us  that  we  should  of  our  own  selves 
judge  what  is  right,"  and,  **he  that  is  spiritual 
judgeth  all  things." 

2.  The  reader  will  have  perceived  between  the 
lines  the  presence  of  objections  against  the  Bible. 
To  have  dealt  with  them  controversially,  besides 
confusing  our  main  purpose,  would  have  taken  too 


As  It  Was  In  The  Beginning  121 

much  room.  The  strength  (or  weakness)  however, 
of  the  paramount  objection  may  appear  from  one 
consideration.  Every  religion  which  solicits  the 
faith  or  attention  of  mankind  deals  with  the  super- 
natural. To  reject  the  scriptures,  therefore,  on  that 
sole  ground  would  seem  to  be  nei<:her  more  nor  less 
than  atheism.  The  momentous  nature  of  such  a 
conclusion  in  face  of  a  book  like  the  Bible  must  be 
left  to  the  reader's  own  reflections. 


